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The Rose of Paradise 


By Howard Pyle 

Illustrated 

HARPER’S 

QUARTERLY 

NUMBER 4 

FEBRUARY, 1894 










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BOAT AHOY ! I CRIED OUT, AND 





THE ROSE OF PARADISE 


Bemg a detailed account of certain adventures that 
happe7ied to Captain John Mackra, m connectio7i 
with the fa7nous pirate, Edward Engla7id, in 
the year 1720, off the Isla7td of Jua7i7ia 
i7i the Mo2a77ibique Cha7i7iel ; writ 
by hwtself, and 7iow for the 
first ti77ie published 



By HOWARD PYLE 


AUTHOR OF 

“PEPPER AND salt” “THE WONDER CLOCK” ETC. 



ILLUSTRATED 



NEW YORK 

HARPER & BROTHERS, FRANKLIN SQUARE 

1894 



Copyright, 1887, by Harper & Brothers. 


All rightt reitrved. 


TO 

LEWIS C. VANDEGRIFT 
!3ook is ?lDebicatcb 

BY HIS FRIEND 


THE AUTHOR 




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ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Boat ahoy I cried out^ and then levelled 

my pistol and fired Frontispiece 

Mr. Longways looked up under his brown eyes 

at me with a very curious leer. faces 20 

“ Captain Mackra,” said he., coldly, '■'‘you were 
pleased to put upon me last night a gross and 

uncalled for insulC'* “ 62 

So soon as they saw me they fell to screaming, 

and clung to one another “ 100 

“ I am Captain fohn Mackra f said /, and I 
sat down upon the gunwale of the boat . ... “ 132 

I rose slowly fro 7 n my chair, and stood with 

my hand leaning upon the table “ 172 

The three fellows wetx brought aft to the 
quarter - deck, where Captain Croker stood, 

just below the rail of the deck above “ 186 

There, m the cornier, I beheld the famous pi- 
rate, Captain Edward England, 


212 



THE ROSE OF PARADISE. 


I. 

Although the account of the serious 
engagement betwixt the Cassandra and the 
two pirate vessels in the Mozambique Chan- 
nel hath already been set to print, the pub- 
lick have yet to know many lesser and more 
detailed circumstances concerning the mat- 
ter;* and as the above-mentioned account 
hath caused much remark and comment, I 


* A brief narration of the naval engagement be- 
tween Captain Mackra and the two pirate vessels 
was given in the Captain’s official report made at 
Bombay. It appears in the life of the pirate England 
in Johnson’s book : “A Genuine Account of the Voy- 
ages and Plunders of the Most Notorious Pyrates, &c.” 
London, 1742. 


2 The Rose of Paradise. 

shall take it upon me to give many inci- 
dents not yet known, seeking to render 
them neither in refined rhetorick nor with 
romantick circumstances such as are some- 
times used by novel and story writers to 
catch the popular attention, but telling this 
history as directly, and with as little verbos- 
ity and circumlocution, as possible. 

For the conveniency of the reader, I shall 
render this true and veracious account un- 
der sundry headings, marked I., IL, III., &c., 
as seen above, which may assist him in sep- 
arating the less from the more notable por- 
tions of the narrative. 

According to my log — a diary or journal 
of circumstances appertaining to shipboard 
— it was the nineteenth day of April, 1720, 
when, I being in command of the East India 
Company’s ship Cassandra, billed for Bom- 
bay and waiting for orders to sail, comes 
Mr, Evans, the Company’s agent, aboard with 
certain sealed and important orders which 


The Rose of Paradise, j 

he desired to deliver to me at the last min- 
ute. 

After we had come to my cabin and were 
set down, Mr. Evans hands me two pacquets, 
one addressed to myself, the other super- 
scribed to one Benjamin Longways. 

He then proceeded to inform me that the 
Company had a matter of exceeding import 
and delicacy which they had no mind to in- 
trust to any one but such, he was pleased to 
say, as was a tried and worthy servant, and 
that they had fixed upon me as the fitting 
one to undertake the commission, which was 
of such a nature as would involve the trans- 
fer of many thousand pounds. He further- 
more informed me that a year or two before, 
the Company had rendered certain aid to 
the native King of Juanna, an island lying 
between Madagascar and the east coast of 
Africa, at a time when there was war be- 
twixt him and the king of an island called 
Mohilla, which lyeth coadjacent to the other 
country; that I should make Juanna upon 


4 


The Rose of Paradise, 

my voyage, and that I should there receive 
through Mr. Longways, who was the Com- 
pany’s agent at that place, a pacquet of the 
greatest import, relating to the settlement 
of certain matters betwixt the East India 
Company and the king of that island. Con- 
cluding his discourse, he further said that 
he had no hesitation in telling me that the 
pacquet which I would there receive from 
Mr. Longways concerned certain payments 
due the East India Company, and would, as 
he had said before, involve the transfer of 
many thousand pounds ; from which I might 
see what need there was of great caution 
and circumspection in the transaction. 

“ But, sir,” says I, “ sure the Company is 
making a prodigious mistake in confiding a 
business of such vast importance as this to 
one so young and so inexperienced as I.” 

To this Mr. Evans only laughed, and was 
pleased to say that it was no concern of his, 
but from what he had observed he thought 
the honorable Company had made a good 


5 


The Rose of Paradise, 

choice, and that of a keen tool, in my case. 
He furthermore said that in the pacquet 
which he had given to me, and which was 
addressed to me, I would find such detailed 
instructions as would be necessary, and that 
the other should be handed to Mr. Long- 
ways, and was an order for the transfer 
above spoken of. 

Soon after this he left the ship, and was 
rowed ashore, after many kind and compla- 
cent wishes for a quick and prosperous voy- 
age. 

It may be as well to observe here as else- 
where within this narrative that the Com- 
pany’s written orders to me contained little 
that Mr. Evans had not told me, saving only 
certain details, and the further order that 
that which the agent at Juanna should 
transfer to me should be delivered to the 
Governor at Bombay, and that I should re- 
ceive a written receipt from him for the 
same. Neither at that time did I know the 
nature of the trust that I was called upon 


6 


The Rose of Paradise, 


to execute, save that it was of great import, 
and that it involved money to some mightily 
considerable amount. 

The crew of the Cassandra consisted of 
fifty-one souls all told, officers and ordinary 
seamen. Besides these were six passengers, 
the list of whom I give below, it having been 
copied from my log-book journal : 

Captain Edward Leach (of the East India 
Company’s service). 

Mr. Thomas Fellows (who was to take the 
newly established agency of the Company 
at Cuttapore). 

Mr. John Williamson (a young cadet). 

Mrs. Colonel Evans (a sister-in-law of the 
Company’s agent spoken of above). 

Mistress Pamela Boon (a niece of the Gov- 
ernor at Bombay). 

Mistress Ann Hastings (the young lady’s 
waiting-woman). 

Of Mistress Pamela Boon I feel extreme 
delicacy in speaking, not caring to make pub- 
lick matters of such a nature as our subse- 


The Rose of Paradise. 


7 


quent relations to one another. Yet this 
much I may say without indelicacy, that she 
was at that time a young lady of eighteen 
years of age, and that her father, who had 
been a clergyman, having died the year be- 
fore, she was at that time upon her way to 
India to join her uncle, who, as said above, 
was Governor at Bombay, and had been left 
her guardian. 

Nor will it be necessary to tire the reader 
by any disquisition upon the other passen- 
gers, excepting Captain Leach, whom I shall 
have good cause to remember to the very 
last day of my life. 

He was a tall, handsome fellow, of about 
eight-and-twenty years of age, of good natu- 
ral parts, and of an old and honorable family 
of Hertfordshire. He was always exceed- 
ingly kind and pleasant to me, and treated 
me upon every occasion with the utmost 
complacency, and yet I conceived a most 
excessive dislike for his person from the 
very first time that I beheld him, nor, as 


8 


The Rose of Paradise, 


events afterwards proved, were my instincts 
astray, or did they mislead me in my senti- 
ments, as they are so apt to do upon similar 
occasions. 

After a voyage somewhat longer than 
usual, and having stopped at St. Helena, 
which hath of late been one of our stations, 
we sighted the southern coast of Madagas- 
car about the middle of July, and. on the 
eighteenth dropped anchor in a little bay 
on the eastern side of the island of Juanna, 
not being able to enter into the harbor 
which lyeth before the king’s town because 
of the shallowness of the water and the lack 
of a safe anchorage, which is mightily nec- 
essary along such a treacherous and dan- 
gerous coast. In the same harbor we found 
two other vessels — one the Greenwich, Cap- 
tain Kirby, an English ship; the other an 
Ostender, a great, clumsy, tub-shaped craft. 

I was much put about that I could get 
no nearer to the king’s town than I then 
was, it being some seven or eight leagues 


9 


The Rose of Paradise. 

away around the northern end of the island. 
I was the more vexed that we could not 
well come to it in boats, other than by a 
long reach around the cape to the north- 
ward, which would increase the journey to 
wellnigh thirty miles. Besides all this, I 
was further troubled upon learning from 
Captain Kirby of the Greenwich that the 
pirates had been very troublesome in these 
waters for some time past. He said that 
having been ashore soon after he had come 
to that place, in search of a convenient spot 
to take in water, he had found fourteen pi- 
rates that had come in their canoes from 
the Mayotta, where the pirate ship to which 
they belonged, viz., the Indian Queen, two 
hundred and fifty tons, twenty-eight guns, 
and ninety men, commanded by Captain 
Oliver de la Bouche, bound from the Guinea 
coast to the East Indies, had been bulged 
and lost. 

I asked Captain Kirby what he had done 
with the rogues. He told me, nothing at 


10 The Rose of Paradise. 

all, and that the less one had to do with 
such fellows the better. At this I was vast- 
ly surprised, and that he had taken no steps 
to put an end to such a nest of vile, wicked, 
and bloody-minded wretches when he had 
it so clearly in his power to take fourteen 
of them at once; more especially as he 
should have known that if they got away 
from that place and to any of their compan- 
ions they would bring the others not only 
about his ears, but of every other craft that 
might be lying in the harbor at the time. 
Something to this effect I said, whereat he 
flew into a mighty huff,, and said that if I 
had seen half the experience that he had 
been through I would not be so free in my 
threats of doing this or that to a set of 
wretches no better than so many devils 
from hell, who would cut a man’s throat 
without any scruples either of fear or re- 
morse. 

To all this I made no rejoinder, for the 
pirates were far enough away by this time. 


II 


The Rose of Paradise. 

and I was willing to suppose that Captain 
Kirby had done what he judged to be best 
in the matter. Yet the getting away of 
those evil wretches brought more trouble 
upon me than had happened in all my life 
before. 

But, as was said before, I was in a pretty 
tub of pickle with all those things ; for I 
could not bring my ship to anchor in any 
reasonable distance of the king’s town, nor 
could I leave her and go on such a journey 
as would take a day or more, lest the pirates 
should come along in my absence. Neither 
did I like to send any of the officers under 
me to execute the commission, it being one 
of such exceeding delicacy and secrecy. At 
this juncture, and all of my passengers 
knowing that we could not leave that place 
till I had communicated certain papers to 
the Company’s agent at the king’s town, 
comes Captain Leach to me and volunteers 
to deliver the pacquet addressed to Mr. 
Longways. At first I was but little inclined 


12 The Rose of Paradise. 

to accept of his complacency, but having a 
secret feeling that I might be wronging 
him by my prejudice against him, I deter- 
mined to give second thought to the mat- 
ter before I hastily declined his offer of aid. 
Indeed, I may truthfully say I would have 
felt more inclined to refuse his assistance if 
I had entertained a more high opinion of 
his person. As it was, I could see no rea- 
son for not accepting his offer ; he was re- 
garded everywhere as a man of rectitude 
and of honor, and I had no real grounds to 
impeach this opinion; so the end of the 
business was that I accepted his aid with 
the best face that I was able to command, 
though that was with no very good grace, 
and gave him leave to choose ten volunteers 
as a boat’s crew for the expedition. 


11 . 


(The reader will be pleased to observe 
that, in pursuance of the plan above indi- 
cated, I here begin a second part or chap- 
ter of my narrative, the first dealing with 
our voyage out as far as the island of Juan- 
na, and matters of a kindred nature, whilst 
the following relates to an entirely different 
subject, namely, the nature of the trust im- 
posed upon me, mention only of which has 
heretofore been made.) 

I do not now nor ever have believed that 
Captain Leach had any other designs in of- 
fering to execute my commission than that 
of seizing so excellent an opportunity to see 
a strange country and people after a long 
and tiresome voyage upon the sea. Never- 
theless, my allowing him to go was one of 
the greatest mistakes in all of my whole life. 


The Rose of Paradise. 

and cost me dearly enough before I had re- 
deemed it. 

The expedition under him was gone for 
three days, at the end of which time he re- 
turned, in company with a great canoe man- 
ned by a crew of about twenty tall, strap- 
ping black fellows, and with two or three 
sitting in the stern-sheets of the craft, be- 
decked with feathers and beads, whom I 
knew to be chiefs or warriors. 

In the Cassandra s boat was a stranger 
who sat beside Captain Leach, talking very 
gayly, and who I knew could be none other 
than Mr. Longways, the Company’s agent. 

So soon as the Cassandra s boat had come 
alongside he skipped up the side like a mon- 
key, and gave me a very civil bow immedi- 
ately his feet touched the deck, which I re- 
turned with all the gravity I was able to 
command. 

Mr. Longways was a lean, slim little man, 
and was dressed with great care, and in the 
very latest fashion that he could obtain ; 


The Rose of Paradise. 


15 


from which, and his polite, affected manners 
and grimaces, I perceived that he rarely had 
the opportunity of coming upon board of a 
craft where there were ladies as passengers. 

After Mr. Longways came Captain Leach, 
and after him the three great, tall, native 
chiefs, half naked, and with hair dressed af- 
ter a most strange, curious fashion. At 
first they would have prostrated themselves 
at my feet, but I prevented them ; where- 
upon they took my hand and set it upon 
their heads, which was anything but pleas- 
ant, their hair being thick with gums and 
greases. 

I presently led the way to my cabin, the 
chiefs following close at our heels, and Mr. 
Longways walking beside me, grimacing 
like a little old monkey in a vastly affected 
manner. Nor could I forbear smiling to 
see how he directed his observations tow- 
ards the ladies, and more especially Mis- 
tress Pamela, who stood at the rail of the 
deck above. 


i6 The Rose of Paradise, 

Mr. Longways carried in his hand a 
strong iron despatch-box, about the bigness 
of those used by the runners at the Bank, 
and so soon as we had come into my cabin 
he clapped it down upon the table with a 
great noise. 

“ There !” says he, fetching a deep sigh ; 
“ I, for one, am glad to be quit of it.” 

“ Why,” says I, “ Mr. Longways, is there 
then so much in the little compass of that 
box.?” 

“ Indeed yes,” says he ; “ enough to make 
you and me rich men for our lives.” 

“ I wonder, then,” says I, laughing, “ that 
you should bring it so easily to me, when 
you might have made off with it yourself, 
and no one the wiser.” 

“ No, no,” says he, quite seriously, with- 
out taking my jest, and jerking his head 
towards the black chiefs, who had squatted 
down upon their hams nigh to the table — 
“ No, no. Our friends yonder have had 
their eyes on me sharply enough, though 


The Rose of Paradise. 77 

they do not understand one single word 
that we are saying to one another.” 

While we had been conversing I had 
fetched out a decanter of port and five 
glasses, and had poured out wine for all 
hands, which the black men drank with as 
great pleasure as Mr. Longways and myself. 

After Mr. Longways had finished, he 
smacked his lips and set down his glass 
with a great air. “ And now,” says he, with 
a comical grimace of vanity and self-impor- 
tance, “ let us to business without loss of 
more time. First of all, I have to ask you, 
sir, do you know what all this treasure is 
for ?” 

I told him yes ; that Mr. Evans had in- 
formed me that it was as payment for cer- 
tain aid which the East India Company had 
rendered to the king of that country. 

“ And how,” says he, very slowly, and 
cocking his head upon one side — “ and how 
do you think our King Coffee is to make 
such payments ? By bills upon the Bank 


2 


j8 The Rose of Paradise. 

of Africa? No, no. The treasure is all in 
this box, every farthing of it ; and I, sir, have 
been chosen by the honorable East India 
Company to have sole and entire charge of 
it for more than two weeks past.” Here 
he looked at me very hard, as though he 
thought I would have made some remark 
upon what he had told me; but as I said 
nothing he presently resumed his discourse, 
after his own fashion. “ I see,” says he, 
“ that you do not appreciate the magnitude 
of the trust that hath been imposed upon 
me. I shall show you, sir.” And without 
more ado he fetched up a bunch of keys 
out of his pocket. He looked at them 
one after another until he found one some- 
what smaller than the rest, and with very 
curiously wrought guards. “ Look at this,” 
says he ; “ there are only three in the world 
like it. I hold one. King Coffee the other, 
and the Governor of Bombay the third.” 
So saying, he thrust the key into the lock 
of the despatch-box. 


The Rose of Paradise. ig 

“ Stop a bit, sir,” said I, very seriously, 
and laying my hand on his arm. “ Have 
you very well considered what you are do- 
ing ? Mr. Evans, the Company’s agent, said 
nothing to me concerning the nature of the 
trust that was to be imposed upon me fur- 
ther than it was of very great value ; and 
without you have received instructions to 
tell me further concerning this business, I 
much misdoubt that the Company intended 
me to be further informed as to its nature.” 

“ Why, look’ee. Captain Mackra,” says he, 
testily, “ Tom Evans is one man and I am 
another, and I tell you further that I am as 
important an agent as he, even though he 
does live in London and I in this outrageous 
heathen country. Even if I had not intend- 
ed showing you this treasure before, I would 
show it to you now, for I do not choose that 
anybody should think that Tom Evans is a 
man of more importance than I.” So saying, 
and without more ado, he gave a quick turn 
to the key, and flung back the lid of the box. 


20 The Rose of Paradise, 

I happened just then to glance at the 
three chiefs, and saw that they were watch- 
ing us as a cat watches at a mouse-hole ; 
but so soon as they saw me observing them 
they turned their eyes away so quickly that 
I hardly felt sure that I had seen them. 

Inside of the box was a great lot of dried 
palm-leaf fibre wrapped around a ball of 
cotton, which Mr. Longways lifted very care- 
fully and gently. Opening this, he came 
upon a little roll of dressed skin like the 
chamois-leather such as the jewellers and 
watch-makers use, and which was tied all 
about very carefully with a stout cord of 
palm fibre. Mr. Longways began labori- 
ously to untie the knot in this cord, and, 
though I cannot tell why, there was some- 
thing about the whole business that set my 
heart to beating very thickly and heavily 
within my breast. 

Mr. Longways looked up under his brows 
at me with a very curious leer. “ Did you ever 
hear,” says he, “ of The Rose of Paradise ?” 


MR. LONGWAYS LOOKED UP UNDER HIS BROWN EYES AT ME WITH A VERY CURIOUS LEER. 



I 


r 




The Rose of Paradise, 21 

I shook my head. 

“ Then I’ll show her to you,” said he ; and 
he began unwinding the cord from about 
the roll of soft leather, the folds of which he 
presently opened. Then, as I looked down 
into his hand and saw what lay within the 
dressed skin, I was so struck with amaze- 
ment that I could not find either breath or 
tongue to utter one single word. 


III. 

It was a rtiby^ the most beautiful I had 
ever see7t^ and about the bigness of a pigeon s 

At the sight of this prodigious jewel I 
was so disturbed in my spirits that I trem- 
bled as though with an ague, while the 
sweat started out of my forehead in great 
drops. “ For the love of the Lord, put it 
up, man !” I cried, so soon as I could find 
breath and wits. 

There was something in my voice that 
must have frightened Mr. Longways, for he 
looked mightily disturbed and taken aback ; 
but he presently tried to pass it off for a 
jest. “ Come, come,” says he, as he wrapped 
up the stone in the soft leather again — 
“ come, come ; it’s all between friend and 
friend, and no harm done.” 


The Rose of Paradise. 


23 


But to this I answered not a word, but 
began walking up and down the cabin, so 
affected by what I had seen that I could 
neither recover my spirits nor regain my 
composure. The more I thought over the 
business the less I liked it ; for if anything 
should now happen to the stone, and it 
should be lost, every suspicion would fall 
upon me, since I was possessed of the 
knowledge of the value of that which was 
given into my charge. I could not but 
marvel at the foolish and magpie vanity of 
Mr. Longways that should thus lead him to 
betray to an unknown stranger what even 
I, though so ignorant of the value of such 
gems, could easily perceive was a vast in- 
calculable treasure such as would make 
any one man rich for a whole lifetime ; and 
even to this very day it is a matter of ad- 
miration to me why the East India Com- 
pany should have put such a man in a 
place of important trust, the only reason 
that I can assign being that no better man 


24 The Rose of Paradise, 

could be found to take the agency in that 
place. 

“ Look’ee,” said I, turning to him sudden- 
ly, “ have you told of this ^ewel, this Rose 
of Paradise, to any one else T 

“ Why — ” says he ; and then he stopped, 
and began gnawing his nether lip in a pee- 
vish fashion. 

“ Come, come,” says I, “ speak out plain. 
Master Longways, for this is no time for 
dilly-dallying.” 

“ Well,” says he, blurting out his words, 
“ I did say something of it to Captain 
Leach, who, I would have you know, is a 
gentleman, and a man of honor into the 
bargain.” 

“And tell me,” said I, paying no atten- 
tion to his braggadocio air, “ did you show 
the stone to him also T 

He looked up and down, as though not 
knowing what to say. 

“ Come, come, sir,” said I, sternly, after 
waiting for a moment or two and he not 


The Rose of Paradise. 2 ^ 

answering me — “ come, come, sir, I should 
like to have an answer, if you j^lease. You 
will recollect that this trust now concerns 
not only you, but also myself, and if any- 
thing happens to the jewel I will be called 
upon to answer for it as well as yourself; 
so, as I said, you will answer my question.” 

“ Why,” says he, “ Master Captain, and 
what if I did } Do you mean to impeach 
the honor of Captain Leach 1 I did show 
it to him one day when we stopped along 
the beach for water, if you must be told ; 
but I can promise you that not another soul 
but yourself has seen it since I gave King 
Coffee my written receipt for it.” 

I made no more comment, but began 
again to walk up and down the cabin, vast- 
ly disturbed in my mind by all that I heard. 
Nothing could be gained by blaming the 
poor fool, who all this time sat watching 
me with a mightily troubled and disquieted 
face. “ Sir,” said I, at last, turning to him — 
“ sir, I do not believe that you know what a 


26 


The Rose of Paradise. 


serious piece of folly you have committed 
in this business. By rights I should have 
nothing more to do with the matter, but 
should leave you to settle it with the Com- 
pany as you choose ; but my instructions 
were to deliver the stone at Bombay, and I 
will undertake to do my part to the best of 
my power. I have nothing of blame to say 
to you, but I must tell you plain that I can- 
not have you longer about my ship ; I do 
not wish to order you to leave, but I will be 
vastly obliged to you if you can return to 
the king’s town without longer stay.” 

At this address Mr. Longways grew very 
red in the face. “ Sir ! sir !” he cried, “ do 
you dare to order me, an agent of the East 
India Company, to leave one of that Com- 
pany’s own ships ?” 

“That,” said I, “you must salt to suit 
your own taste.” 

“ Very well !” cried he; “give me a re- 
ceipt for the stone and I’ll go, though I tell 
you plain that the Company shall hear of 


The Rose of Paradise. 2y 

the fashion in which you have been pleased 
to treat me.” 

I made no further answer to his words, 
but sat down and wrote out the receipt, 
specifying, however, the manner in which 
The Rose of Paradise had been shown both 
to Captain Leach and to myself. 

For a while Mr. Longways hotly refused 
to accept it in the form in which it was writ; 
but finding that he could get no better, and 
that he would either have to accept of it or 
retain the stone in his own keeping until 
some further opportunity offered for con- 
signing it to Bombay, he was finally fain to 
take what he could get, whereupon he folded 
up the paper and thrust it into his pocket, r 
and then left the cabin with a vast show of 
dignity, and without so much as looking at 
me or saying a word to me. 

He and the chiefs got into the great ca- 
noe, and rowed away whence they had come, 
and I saw no more of him until above a 
week afterwards, of which I shall have more 
to say further on in my narration. 


IV. 


I DID not go upon deck immediately after 
Mr. Longways had left the cabin, but sat 
there concerned with a great multitude of 
thoughts, and gazing absently at the box 
that held the treasure, and at the empty 
glasses with the dregs of the wine in the 
bottom. 

Just in front of me was a small looking- 
glass fastened against the port side of the 
cabin in such position that by merely rais- 
ing my eyes I could seethe cabin door from 
where I sat. 

In the upper part of the door was a little 
window of two panes of glass, which opened 
out under the overhang of the poop-deck. 

Though I do not know what it was, some- 
thing led me to glance up from where I sat, 
and in the glass I saw Captain Leach look- 


29 


The Rose of Paradise. 

ing in at that window with a mightily strange 
expression on his face. He was not look- 
ing at me, but at the iron despatch-box upon 
the table, and I sat gazing at him for about 
the space of eight or ten seconds, in which 
time he moved neither his glance nor his 
person. Suddenly he lifted his eyes and 
looked directly into the glass, and his gaze 
met mine. I had thought that he would 
have been struck with confusion, and for a 
moment it did seem as though his look fal- 
tered, but he instantly recovered himself, 
and tapped lightly upon the door, and I bade 
him come in without moving where I sat. 

He did as he was told, and sat down upon 
the chair which Mr. Longways had occupied 
only a few moments before. I confess that 
I was both frightened and angry at finding 
him thus, as it were, spying upon me, so 
that it was a moment or two before I trusted 
myself to speak. 

“ Sir,” said I at last, “ sure this voyage 
hath been long enough for you to know that 


JO The Rose of Paradise, 

the courtesies of shipboard require you to 
send a message to the captain to find wheth- 
er he be disengaged or no.” 

Captain Leach showed no emotion at my 
reproof. “ Captain Mackra,” said he, quiet- 
ly, “ I do not know what that gabbling fool 
of an agent has or has not said to you, but 
I tell you plain he hath chosen to betray to 
me certain important matters concerning 
the East India Company, and that in yon- 
der despatch-box is a large ruby, valued at 
nigh three hundred and fifty thousand 
pounds sterling.” 

I may confess that I was vastly amazed 
at the value of the stone, which was far great- 
er than I had conceived a notion of, but I 
strove to show nothing of my sentiments to 
my interlocutor. 

“Well, sir.^^” said I, looking him straight 
in the face. 

He seemed somewhat struck aback at 
my manner, but he presently laughed light- 
ly. “ You take the matter with most admi- 


The Rose of Paradise. ji 

rable coolness,” said he; “far more than I 
would do were I in your place. But at least 
you will now perceive why I chose rather 
to come to you of myself than to send a 
messenger to you where a matter of such 
delicacy was concerned.” 

“ Well, sir T said I. 

Captain Leach looked for a moment or 
two as though at a loss what next to say, 
but he presently spoke again. “ I came to 
you,” said he, “ not knowing, as I said be- 
fore, whether or no Mr. Longways had be- 
trayed to you, as he has to me, the value of 
the trust imposed upon you ; and as I my- 
self am now unfortunately concerned in the 
knowledge of this treasure, and so share in 
your responsibility, I come hither to discover 
what steps you propose taking to insure the 
safety of the stone.” 

Now it hath come under my observation 
that if a man be permitted to talk without 
let or stay, he will sooner or later betray 
that which lieth upon his mind. So from 


j2 The Rose of Paradise, 

the very moment that Captain Leach ut- 
tered his last speech I conceived the dark- 
est and most sinister suspicions of his pur- 
poses ; nor from that time did I trust one 
single word that he said, or repose confi- 
dence in any of his actions, but was ready 
to see in everything something to awaken 
my doubts of his rectitude. Nor did these 
sentiments arise entirely from his words, but 
equally as much from my having discovered 
him, as it were, so prying upon my privacy. 

“ Sir,” said I, rising from my seat, “ I am 
infinitely obliged to you for your kindness 
in this affair, but as I have at present mat- 
ters of considerable import that demand 
my closest attention, I must beg you to ex- 
cuse me.” 

Captain Leach looked at me for a mo- 
ment or two as though he had it upon his 
mind to say something further. However, 
he did not speak, but rising, delivered a very 
profound bow, and left the cabin without 
another word. 


33 


The Rose of Paradise. 

But there was no gainsaying the wisdom 
of the advice which he had given me as to 
concealing the treasure. Accordingly I ob- 
tained from the carpenter a basket of tools, 
and, bearing in mind the late visit with 
which he had favored me, having shaded 
the little window in the door of my cabin, 
I stripped off my coat and waistcoat, and 
after an hour or so of work, made shift to 
rig up a very snug little closet with a hinged 
door, in the bottom of my berth and below 
the mattress, wherein I hid the jewel. After 
that I breathed more freely, for I felt that 
the treasure could not be discovered with- 
out a long and careful search, the opportuni- 
ties for which were not likely to occur. 

Although my interview with Captain 
Leach might seem of small and inconsid- 
erable moment to any one coolly reading 
this narrative in the privacy of his closet, 
yet coming to me as it did upon the heels 
of my other interview with Mr. Longways, 
it cast me into such disquietude of spirit as 
3 


34 


The Rose of Paradise, 


I had not felt for a long time. I would have 
heaved anchor and away, without losing one 
single minute of delay, had it been possible 
for me to have done so ; but not a breath of 
air was stirring, and there was nothing for 
it but to ride at anchor where we were, 
though, what with the heat and delay, it was 
all that I could do not to chafe myself into 
a fume of impatience. 

So passed the day until about four o’clock 
in the afternoon, when there happened a 
certain thing that, had thunder and light- 
ning burst from a clear sky, it could not 
have amazed me more. I being in my cab- 
in at the time, comes Mr. Langely, my first 
mate, with the strange news that the look- 
out had sighted a vessel over the point of 
land to the southward. I could hardly ac- 
credit what he said, for, as above stated, not 
a breath of air was going. I hurried out of 
my cabin and upon deck, where I found Mr. 
White, the second mate, standing at the 
port side of the ship, with a glass in his 


The Rose of Paradise, 


35 


hand directed a few points west of south, 
and over a spit of land which ran out in 
the channel towards that quarter, at which 
place the cape was covered by a mightily 
thick growth of scrub-bushes, with here and 
there a tall palm-tree rising from the midst 
of the thickets. Over beyond these I could 
see the thin white masts of the vessel that 
the lookout had sighted. There was no 
need of the glass, for I could see her plain 
enough,. though not of what nature she 
might be. However, I took the telescope 
from Mr. White’s hands, and made a long 
and careful survey of the stranger, but as 
much to hide my thoughts as for any satis- 
faction that I could gain ; for what con- 
founded me beyond measure was that a 
vessel should be sighted so suddenly, and 
in a dead calm, where I felt well assured no 
craft had been for days past. Nor was I 
less amazed to find, as I held the stranger 
steadfastly in the circle of the object-glass, 
a tall palm-tree being almost betwixt the 


The Rose of Paradise. 


3 ^ 

Cassandra and her, and almost directly in 
my line of sight, that she was slowly and 
steadily making way towards the northward, 
and at a very considerable angle with the 
Gulf current, which there had a set more to 
the westward than where we lay at anchor. 

I think that all, or nearly all, of my pas- 
sengers were upon the poop -deck at that 
time. Captain Leach with a pocket field- 
glass which he had fetched with him from 
England, and with which he was directing 
Mistress Pamela’s observation to the strange 
craft. Nearly all the crew were also watch- 
ing her by this time, and in a little while 
they perceived, what I had seen from the ' 
first, that the vessel was by some contriv- 
ance making head without a breath of wind, 
and nearly against the Gulf current. 

As for the stranger herself, so far as I 
could judge, seeing nothing of her hull, she 
was a bark of somewhat less tonnage than 
the Cassandra ; and the masts, which we 
could perceive very clearly against the clear 


The Rose of Paradise, jy 

sky, had a greater rake than any I had ever 
before seen. 

I do not know whether or not it was be- 
cause my mind was running so much upon 
the pirates and upon the great treasure 
which I had in my keeping, but I am free 
to say that I liked the looks of the strange 
craft as little as any I had ever beheld in 
my life, and would have given a hundred 
guineas to be safe away from where I was, 
and with no more favor than a good open 
sea and a smart breeze, for the Cassandra 
was a first-rate sailer, and as good a ship as 
any the East India Company had at their 
docks. 

As it was, we were cooped up in what 
was little more than a pond, and I did not 
like the looks of the business at all. 

“ What do you make her out to be, Mr. 
Langely C said I, after a bit, handing him 
the glass. 

He took a long and careful look at the 
stranger without speaking for a while. By- 


j8 The Rose of Paradise, 

and-by he said, without taking his eye from 
the glass, and as though speaking half 
to himself, “ She’s making way against the 
current somehow or other.” 

“ Yes,” said I ; “ I saw that from the first. 
But what do you make of her.f^” 

“ I can make nothing of her,” says he, after 
a little while. 

“Neither can I,” I said; “and I like her 
none the better for that.” 

Mr. Langely took his eye from the glass, 
and gave me a very significant look, where- 
by I saw that he had very much the same 
notion concerning the stranger that I my- 
self entertained. 

By this time there was considerable bus- 
tle aboard the Greenwich, which rode at 
anchor not more than a furlong or two from 
where we lay, and by the gathering of the 
men on the forecastle I could see that they 
had sighted the craft, as we had already 
done. 

So the afternoon passed until six o’clock 


39 


The Rose of Paradise, 

had come, against which time the stranger 
had almost come into open sight beyond 
the cape to the south, the hull alone being 
hidden by the low spit of sand which formed 
the extremity of the point. 

That evening I took my supper along 
with the passengers, as I had been used to 
do, for I wished to appear unconcerned, as, 
after all, my suspicions might be altogeth- 
er groundless. Nevertheless, I came upon 
deck again as soon as I was able, and found 
that the stranger was now so far come into 
sight as to show a part of her hull, which 
was low, and painted black, and was of such 
an appearance as rather to increase than to 
lessen my serious suspicions of her nature. 

I could see there were two whale-boats 
ahead of her, and it was very plain to me that 
it was by means of these that the bark was 
making head against the current. At first I 
was more than ever amazed at this, seeing 
that the current at that point could not run 
at less than the rate of two or three knots an 


40 


The Rose of Paradise, 


hour, against which two boats could not 
hope to tow a craft of her size without some 
contrivance to aid their efforts. Every now 
and then I could hear the clicking of the 
capstan, as though the vessel was heaving 
anchor, and led by this sound, I after a while 
perceived how she was making way, though 
if I had not seen the same plan used in the 
Strait of Malacca by the City of Worcester, 
when I was there in the year ’17, I much 
misdoubt whether I could have so readily 
discovered the design which they were in 
this instance using. As it was, I was not 
long in finding out what they were about. 

The two boats ahead of the strange craft 
were towing a square sail through the water 
by a line fastened to the middle of the same. 
From all four corners of this sail ran good 
stout ropes, which were made fast to the 
anchor cable of the bark. The two boats 
might tow this square through the water 
easily enough by that one line fastened to 
the middle, because the sail would then close 


The Rose of Paradise, 

and so slip easily through the water ; but so 
soon as the bark began to haul upon it from 
all four corners it spread out as though filled 
with wind, and so offered a vast resistance 
to the water. By this contrivance the bark 
was making headway at about the rate of a 
knot an hour against the current, so that by 
seven o’clock she was clear out beyond the 
cape and into the open water beyond. 

At that time the sun had not yet gone 
down, and the distant vessel stood out 
against the reddish -gray sky to the east- 
ward, with all the cordage and the masts as 
sharp as so many hairs and straws in the 
red light of the setting sun. 

I was standing just under the poop-deck 
at the time, with the glass to my eye, when, 
of a sudden, I saw something black begin 
rising from the deck to the fore. There 
was not enough breeze going to spread it, 
but I knew as well as anything in all of my 
life that it was the “ Black Roger,” and that 
the white that I could see among the folds 


42 


The Rose of Paradise, 


was the wicked sign of the “ skull and cross- 
bones,” which those bloody and cruel wretch- 
es are pleased to adopt as the ensign of their 
trade. Nor were we long in doubt as to 
their design, for even as I watched I saw a 
sudden puff of white smoke go up from her 
side and hang motionlessly in the still air, 
whilst a second or two later sounded the dull 
and heavy boom of the distant cannon, and a 
round shot came skipping across the water 
from wave to wave, though too far awa}^ and 
with too poor aim to do any damage from 
that distance, which could not have been 
less than two miles. 

“What does that mean, captain?” said 
Mistress Pamela, who stood with the other 
passengers observing the bark from the 
poop-deck above. 

“A salute, madam,” said I, and so shut 
my glass and went into my cabin, where Mr. 
Langely presently joined me at my request, 
and where we talked over this very ugly 
piece of business at our leisure. 


V. 


In those hot latitudes, such as Madagas- 
car, the darkness cometh very sudden after 
sunset, and with no long twilights such as 
we have in England, so that within half an 
hour after the pirate had saluted us with a 
round shot, as told above, it had passed from 
daylight to night-time, and there being no 
moon until about four o’clock in the morn- 
ing, it was very dark, with an infinite quan- 
tity of stars shining most beautifully in the 
sky. 

I ordered my gig to be made ready, and 
went aboard the Greenwich, where I found 
Captain Kirby suffering under the utmost 
consternation of spirits. He took me straight 
to his cabin, where, when we were set down, 
he fell to blaming himself most severely for 
not having clapped chains upon the fourteen 


44 


The Rose of Paradise, 


pirates whom he had found on the island 
upon his arrival at that place, and who, it 
was very plain to see, had given such infor- 
mation to their fellows as had brought a 
great number of them down upon us. 

So soon as I was able I checked him in 
his self-reproaches. “ Come, come. Captain 
Kirby,” says I, “ ’tis no time for vain regrets, 
but rather to be thinking to protect our- 
selves and those things that we have in trust 
from these bloody wretches, who would strip 
us of all.” 

So, after a while, he quieted in some meas- 
ure, and the captain of the Ostender com- 
ing aboard about this time, we made shift 
betwixt us to settle some sort of a plan for 
mutual protection. 

According to my suggestions it was de- 
termined to get out warps upon the port 
side of all three crafts, which now lay head- 
ing towards the south, because of the set of 
the current. By means of these warps the 
vessels might be brought to lie athwart the 


45 


The Rose of Paradise, 

channel, which was so narrow at this place 
that, should the pirate craft venture into the 
harbor, she would be raked by all three in 
turn. These matters being settled, I re- 
turned to the Cassandra again. 

That night I had but little sleep, but was 
in and out of my cabin continually. When- 
ever I was upon the deck I could hear the 
“ click, click, click ” of the capstan aboard 
the pirate vessel, sounding more clearly 
through the dampness of the night than in 
the daytime. There was still not a breath 
of air going, and I thought it likely that the 
pirate intended making her way into the 
harbor that night, but about three o’clock 
in the morning the noise of working the 
capstan ceased, and I fancied that I heard 
a sound as of dropping anchor, though I 
could make out nothing through the dark- 
ness, even with the night-glass. 

Nor was I mistaken in my surmise that 
the pirate craft had come to anchor, for 
when the day broke I perceived that she lay 


^6 The Rose of Paradise. 

between two and three miles away, just out- 
side of the capes, and directly athwart the 
channel, being stayed by warps, broadside 
on, as we ourselves were in the harbor, so 
as to rake any vessel that should endeavor 
to come out, as we might rake any that 
would endeavor to come in. 

As this day also was very quiet, with not 
a breath of wind stirring, I expected that 
the pirate would open fire, though at such 
a long range. However, this she did not 
do, but lay there as though watching us, 
and as though to hold us where we were 
until some opportunity or other had ri- 
pened. And so came the night again, with 
nothing more of note having happened than 
the day before. 

Ever since we had lain at this spot native 
canoes (called by the sailors bumboats) had 
come from the shore from day to day, laden 
with fruit and fresh provisions, which are 
most delicious, refreshing luxuries after a 
prolonged sea -voyage, such as ours had 


The Rose of Paradise. 


47 


been. That day they had come as usual, 
though there was little humor for bartering 
with them upon such a serious occasion. 

However, I had observed, and not with- 
out surprise, that Captain Leach, though he 
knew the nature of the pirate craft, and the 
serious situation in our affairs, appeared so 
little affected by the danger which threat- 
ened us that he bought a lot of fresh fruit, 
as usual, and held a great deal of conversa- 
tion with one of the natives, who spoke a 
sort of English which he had picked up 
from our traders. 

I had not thought much of this at the 
time, although, as I had observed before, it 
was not without surprise that I beheld what 
he did; beyond this I reckoned nothing of 
it, nor would have done so had not matters 
of the utmost importance afterwards recalled 
it to my attention. 

That night I had no more appetite for 
sleep than the night before, and finding lit- 
tle rest or ease in my cabin, was up upon 


^8 The Rose of Paradise, 

deck for most of the time. Though I did 
not choose just then to hold conversation 
with my passengers, I noticed that they 
were all upon deck, where they sat talking 
together in low tones. As the night ad- 
vanced, however, they betook themselves to 
their cabins, one after another, until only 
Captain Leach was left sitting alone. 

He remained there for maybe the space 
of half an hour, without moving a hair’s- 
breadth, so far as I could see. At the end 
of about that length of time, being in a 
mightily anxious state, I stepped forward to 
see for myself that the watch was keeping a 
sharp lookout. I was not gone for more 
than a minute or two, but when I came back 
I saw that Captain Leach was no longer 
where he had been before; yet although I 
noticed this circumstance at the time, I gave 
no more thought to it than I would upon 
an ordinary occasion. 

As there was no one on the poop, I my- 
self went up upon that deck, it being so 


49 


The Rose of Paradise. 

much cooler there than on the quarter-deck 
below. I took out my pipe and filled it, 
thinking to have a quiet smoke, which is 
a most efficacious manner of soothing any 
perturbation or fermentation of spirits. Just 
as I was about to strike my flint for a light, 
I heard a noise under the stern-sheets, as of 
some one stepping into a boat, and almost 
immediately afterwards a slight splash, as 
of an oar or a paddle dipped into the water. 
I ran hastily to the side of the vessel, and 
looked astern and into the water below. 

Although the sky was clear, the night 
was excessively dark, as one may often see 
it in those tropical latitudes ; yet I was as 
well assured that a boat of some sort had 
left the ship as if I had seen it in broad day- 
light, because of the phosphorescent trail 
which it left behind it in its wake. 

I had slipped a pistol into my belt before 
quitting my cabin, and as I hailed the boat 
I drew it and cocked it, for I thought that 
the whole occurrence was of a mightily sus- 


4 


50 The Rose of Paradise. 

picious nature. As I more than half ex- 
pected, I got no answer. “ Boat, ahoy !” I 
cried out a second time, and then, almost 
immediately, levelled my pistol and fired, 
for I saw that whoever the stranger was, 
he had no mind to give me an answer. 

At the report of the pistol both Mr. 
Langely and Mr. White came running to 
where I was, and I explained the suspi- 
cious circumstances to them, whereupon 
Mr. Langely suggested that it might have 
been a shark that I had seen, vast quanti- 
ties of which voracious animals dwell in 
those and the neighboring waters. I did 
not controvert what he said, although I 
knew beyond a doubt that it was a craft of 
some sort which I had discovered — possibly 
a canoe, for the dip of the paddle, which I 
had distinctly seen in the phosphorescence 
of the water, appeared first upon the one 
side of the wake and then upon the other, 
as the blade was dipped into the water from 
side to side ; so although, as I said, I did not 


The Rose of Paradise, 5/ 

undertake to controvert Mr. Langely’s opin- 
ion, I was mightily discomposed in my own 
mind concerning the business. 

At this time there was a vast deal of dis- 
turbance aboard the Greenwich and the Os- 
tender because of my hail and the discharge 
of the pistol, which, however, soon quieted 
down when they found that nothing further 
followed upon the alarm. 

I walked up and down the poop-deck for 
a great while, endeavoring to conceive what 
could be the meaning of the boat, which 
had most undoubtedly been lying under the 
stern of the Cassandra, and how it came 
that the watch had failed so entirely to dis- 
cover its arrival. It would not have been 
possible for an ordinary ship’s boat to come 
upon us so undiscovered, for,- as I myself 
knew, the watch were keeping a sharper 
lookout than usual; therefore this circum- 
stance, together with that which I had above 
observed concerning my opinion that the 
craft had been rowed with a paddle, led me 


5 ^ 


The Rose of Paradise. 


to conclude that it was one of the native 
canoes, though I was as far as ever from 
guessing what the object of the visit had 
been, or what it portended. As I sat rumi- 
nating upon this subject, looking straight 
ahead of me, without thinking whither my 
observation was directed, I presently per- 
ceived that I was looking absently at the 
spot where Captain Leach had been sitting 
a little while before. This led me to think 
of him, and from him of the jewel that was 
in my keeping, and of its excessive value. 
Of a sudden it flashed into my mind, as 
quick as lightning, what if Captain Leach 
should have it in his mind to practice some 
treachery upon us all 

I may truly say that this thought would 
never have entered my brains had not the 
circumstance of Captain Leach’s conversa- 
tion with me in my cabin tended to set it 
there. But no sooner had this gloomy sus- 
picion found place in my mind than it and 
those troubles \Yhich had beset me of late, 


The Rose of Paradise. 5j 

and the loss of that sleep which I had failed 
to enjoy the night before, together cast me 
into such a ferment of spirits as I hope I 
may never again experience. Nor could I 
reason my mind out of what I could not 
but feel might be insane and unreasonable 
fancyings. 

At last I could bear my uncertainties no 
longer, but went down into the great cabin, 
and so to the door of the berth which Cap- 
tain Leach occupied. I knocked softly upon 
the door, and then waited a while, but re- 
ceived no answer. After that I knocked 
again, and louder, but with no better suc- 
cess than before. Finding I was like to 
have no answer to my knocking, I tried the 
door, and found that it was locked. 

My heart began to beat at a great rate at 
all this ; but I suddenly bethought me that 
perhaps the captain was a sound sleeper 
and not easily roused. If this were so, and 
he were in his cabin, and had locked the 
door upon himself, I could easily convince 


54 


The Rose of Paradise, 

myself of the fact, for it hardly could be 
doubted but that the key would be in the 
key -hole. I drew out my pocket-knife, 
opened a small blade which it contained, 
and thrust it into the key-hole. There was 
no key there ! 

This discovery acted upon my spirits in 
such a manner that a douse of water could 
not have cooled me quicker; for now that 
my worst suspicions were so far confirmed 
— for I felt well assured that Captain Leach 
was nowhere aboard the ship — my pertur- 
bation left me, and I grew of a sudden as 
calm as I am at this very moment. How- 
ever, to make matters more assured, I rapped 
again upon the door of the cabin, and this 
time with more vigor than before ; but al- 
though I repeated the knocking four or five 
times, I received no answer, and so went upon 
deck to consider the matter at my leisure. 

My first thought was of the jewel in my 
keeping, and that Captain Leach had made 
off with it. My cooler reason told me that 


55 


The Rose of Paradise, 

this could not be, I having taken such ef- 
fectual means to hide it, as before stated. 
Nevertheless, I went to my cabin and ex- 
amined my hiding-place to set my mind 
at rest, finding, as might be expected, that 
the jewel was safely there. 

My first impulse was to tell Mr. Langely 
of my suspicions, but in digesting the mat- 
ter it appeared to me best to keep them to 
myself for the present ; for if I should, after 
all, prove wrong in my surmise, it would 
only add to the entanglement to have an- 
other involved in the business before any- 
thing certain had been discovered ; more- 
over, should I observe sufficient cause for 
using extreme measures against Captain 
Leach, I might easily arrest him at any 
time, having him entirely in my power. 

Having settled this matter to my own 
satisfaction, I determined to lie in wait for 
his return, and to discover how he himself 
would explain his absence. 

I surmised that he must have left the ship 


5<5 The Rose of Paradise, 

from the boat which was hanging to the 
davits astern, and on inspecting the matter, 
found that I was correct, and that a stout 
line, such as might easily bear the weight of a 
man, had been lashed to one of the falls, and 
hung to within a foot or two of the water. 
I was then well assured that Captain Leach 
must have clambered into the boat astern 
whilst I had gone forward, as told above, 
and had dropped thence into the canoe by 
means of the line just spoken of. The noise 
which I had heard I conceived to have been 
caused by his making a misstep, or by the 
canoe rising with the ground -swell more 
than he had expected. 

Now, if he left the ship in that manner, 
of which, according to my mind, there could 
be but little doubt, there was equal certain- 
ty that he would return by the same way ; 
so I determined to lie in watch for him 
there, and to tax him with his absence so 
soon as he should come aboard. Accord- 
ingly I laid myself down in the boat astern 


The Rose of Paradise. 


57 


as comfortably as I could contrive, and 
lighting my pipe, watched with all the pa- 
tience I could command for the return of 
the fugitive. 

I judge that I lay there for the space 
of two or three hours, and in all that 
time saw or heard nothing to arouse my 
suspicions ; nor do I believe that I would 
have discovered anything had I not been 
watching at that very place, for so quiet 
was Captain Leach’s return that I heard 
no sound of oars nor knew anything of it 
until I saw the line that hung at the davits 
moved from below by some one climbing 
aboard. I lay perfectly still and made no 
noise until he had clambered into the boat 
and stood within a few feet of me. 

“Well, sir,” says I, as quietly as I could 
speak, “ and may I ask where you have been 
for all this long time V 


VI. 


Had a pistol been fired beside his head 
he could not have started more violently, 
and I had thought that he would have been 
utterly dumfounded ; but he recovered him- 
self with a most amazing quickness. 

“ Why, Captain Mackra,” says he, with a 
laugh, “ and is it you that welcome me back 
again, like the prodigal that I am ?” 

“ Sir,” said I, very sternly, “ you will be 
pleased to answer my question, for I tell 
you plain that I am in no humor for jesting 
upon this occasion.” 

• “And why should I not jest?” says he; 
“ the whole business is a jest from first to 
last. As all this coil has been made about 
a very simple piece of business, I am forced 
to tell what I had not intended to tell, and 
which I am surprised that a man of your 


59 


The Rose of Paradise. 

feeling should urge another into declaring. 
A man of parts, sir, may find favor with 
dusky beauties as well as with white ; nor 
can I see what more harm there may be in 
visiting a sweetheart here than at Graves- 
end, which I doubt not you yourself have 
done, and that more than once.” 

I confess that I was vastly struck aback 
at this reasonable answer, and began for a 
moment to misdoubt that my suspicions of 
the captain were correct. For a while I 
stood, not knowing what to say, when of a 
sudden certain circumstances struck me that 
Captain Leach’s words had not explained. 

“And why,” said I, “at a time of such 
anxiety and uncertainty, did you not ask 
permission to leave the ship.f^” 

“ I should think,” says he, “ a man of deli- 
cacy would have no need to ask such a ques- 
tion as that.” 

“ Then tell me this,” I cried, “ why did you 
not direct your course towards the land in- 
stead of towards the open sea 


6o The Rose of Paradise, 

“ Why,” says he, laughing, and answering 
with the utmost readiness, “ I thought of 
nothing at all but of getting away from the 
ship as fast as possible, seeing that some 
hasty fool aboard was blazing away at me 
with a pistol or musquetoon, and that if I 
had been picking my course at the time I 
might have wound up the business with an 
ounce of lead in my brains, instead of en- 
joying this pleasant conversation in such 
good health.” 

All this time we had been standing with- 
in a foot or two of one another, I looking 
him straight in the face, though I could see 
nothing of it in the darkness. For a mo- 
ment or two I could make no answer, .his 
words being so mightily plausible ; and yet 
I did not believe a single one of them, for 
they ran so smoothly and glibly that I could 
not but feel convinced that he had them 
already sorted and arranged for just such 
an occasion as the present. 

“Sir,” said I, in a low voice, for I was 


The Rose of Paradise. 6i 

afraid lest my indignation should get the 
better of me, “ I tell you plain that, though 
your words are so smooth, I do not believe 
that which you tell me. Go to your cabin, 
sir, and let me tell you that if I see any- 
thing that may tend to confirm my suspi- 
cions of you, I will clap you in irons, with- 
out waiting a second, and as sure as you 
are a living man.” 

“ Captain Mackra,” said he, in a voice as 
quiet as that I myself had used, “ if ever I 
come safely to land, you shall answer to me 
for these words, sir.” 

“ That as you please,” said I ; and there- 
upon turned and left the boat, entering my 
own cabin so soon as I had seen that Cap- 
tain Leach had obeyed my orders by betak- 
ing himself to his. 

I was not thus quickly to see the last of 
this part of the affair, for early the next 
morning, and before I had left my cabin, 
Mr. Langely comes to me with a message 
from Captain Leach to the effect that he 


62 


The Rose of Paradise, 


would like to have a few words with me. I 
at once sent a return message that I would 
be pleased to see him at whatever time it 
might suit him to come. Accordingly in 
about five minutes he knocked upon the 
door of my cabin, and I bade him enter. I 
motioned him to a chair, but he only bowed 
and remained standing where he was, nigh 
to the door. 

“Captain Mackra,” said he, coldly, “you 
were pleased to put upon me last night a 
gross and uncalled-for insult. I cannot sum- 
mon you to account for it at present, al- 
though I hope to do so in the future. But 
you may perceive, sir, that it will be best 
both for you and for myself that I should 
withdraw from this ship, and finish my pas- 
sage to India, as the opportunity now offers, 
either in the Greenwich or the Van Wei- 
la7id'' (which was the name of the Ostend 
boat). 

I was overjoyed at so propitious an op- 
portunity of getting thus easily rid of my 


CAI TAIN MACKRA, SAID HE, COLDL\ , YOU WERE PLEASED TO PUT UPON ME LAST NIGHT 

A GROSS AND UNCALLED-FOR INSULT.” 






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The Rose of Paradise, 6j 

uncomfortable passenger. However, I think 
I showed nothing of this to him — at least I 
endeavored not to do so — and told him that 
a boat was at his service if he chose to look 
for another berth for the rest of the voyage. 
I myself went upon deck and had the gig 
lowered, into which Captain Leach present- 
ly stepped, having bid good-by to his fellow- 
passengers, and having said that he would 
send for his chest so soon as he had secured 
a berth in one or the other of the vessels 
mentioned. I gave directions to the boat- 
swain, who was captain of the gig, to await 
Captain Leach’s orders until he should in- 
dicate that he had no further use for the 
boat, and then saw him rowed away to the 
Greenwich with the most inexpressible pleas- 
ure. 

The Cassandra s boat lay alongside of the 
Greenwich for maybe half an hour, at the 
end of which time I was surprised to see 
Captain Leach re-enter her, and direct his 
course to the Ostender, which lay a little 


64 


The Rose of Pa7^adise, 


distance beyond. He remained aboard of 
her for about the same length of time that 
he had stayed with the Greenwich, after 
which he climbed the boat for a third time, 
and directed his course for the Cassandra 
again. 

I was standing upon the quarter-deck 
when he came aboard, and he approached 
me with a countenance expressive of the ut- 
most mortification and chagrin. 

“ Captain Mackra,” said he, “ I find that 
by a most unfortunate sequence of events I 
can find a berth neither aboard the Green- 
wich nor the Ostender, so that nothing re- 
mains but for me to force my unwelcome 
presence upon you for the balance of the 
voyage.” 

I own that I was very much disappoint- 
ed by these words. However, nothing re- 
mained but to put the best face possible 
upon the matter. “ Sir,” said I, as gracious- 
ly as I could contrive to speak, although I 
am afraid that my tone was expressive of 


The Rose of Paradise, 6^ 

my disappointment, “it was at your own 
suggestion that you quitted the Cassandra ; 
your berth, sir, is still ready for your occu- 
pation.” 

He said nothing further, but indicating 
his acknowledgments with a bow, proceeded 
directly to his cabin. 

5 


VII. 

As I was in such a ferment of spirit for 
all this time, and so fearful of an attack 
from the pirate craft, having continually in 
my mind not only the treasure, but also the 
helpless women intrusted to my keeping, it 
might occur to the reader to ask why I did 
not send both it and them to such a place 
of safety upon the land as the king’s town 
offered to English people beset as we were. 
I may now say that I had considered it, and 
had perceived that more than one difficulty 
lay in the way. In the first place, I could 
not send the ship’s boat to the king’s town, 
because that in passing the cape to the 
northward they would come within a mile 
or less of the pirate craft, from which they 
might not hope to escape without molesta- 
tion. 


The Rose of Par'adise. 6y 

Secondly, I could not send them across 
the country, because it would require not 
only an escort such as could be ill spared 
at this juncture, but also an efficient leader, 
who might be spared even less readily. Be- 
sides this, I could not tell what dangers such 
a party might encounter, not only from na- 
tives, of whose disposition I knew nothing, 
but also from wild beasts, which we could 
hear distinctly every night, howling in the 
jungles in a most melancholy, dreadful man- 
ner. 

Thirdly and lastly, I did not believe the 
pirates would stay long where they were, 
as I had often heard of the cowardly dis- 
position of these bloody wretches ; where- 
fore I hoped that, seeing how well we were 
posted to guard ourselves against an attack 
from them, they might take themselves 
away upon the first occasion, which they 
could not now do because of the calm 
weather. I furthermore argued that in any 
event, should occasion render it necessary. 


68 


The Rose of Paradise. 


I could easily disembark my passengers 
with but little loss of time, and as easily and 
safely then as now. 

Such had been the nature of my thoughts 
whenever I had directed them upon the 
melancholy and gloomy state of our affairs. 
Yet had the most sinister forebodings which 
I had entertained at those times been ful- 
filled, our misfortunes could not have equal- 
led those which in truth fell upon us, the 
history of which I have immediately to tell. 

Captain Leach’s trip in search of a new 
berth had been undertaken so early in the 
morning that it was not yet noon when 
he had returned. Some little time after 
that, I being in my own cabin at the time, 
there came of a sudden a sound that was, 
as it were, the first muttering of the storm 
that was so soon to fall upon us. It was 
the dull and heavy boom of a single cannon, 
sounding from a great way off, and which I 
instantly knew had been fired aboard of the 
pirate craft. 


The Rose of Paradise, 6g 

I went straight upon the deck, where I 
found the weather still as dead a calm as it 
had been the two days before, with not so 
much as a breath of air stirring or a cat’s- 
paw upon the water. The ground-swell rose 
and fell as smoothly as though the sea ran 
with oil instead of water, and the sky above 
had an appearance as of a solid sheet of 
steel-blue, with not so much as one single 
cloud upon the whole face of it. But the 
first thing that I beheld was the pirate craft, 
and that they were hoisting sail as though 
they perceived a breeze coming, of which 
we saw nothing. Across her port bow the 
smoke of her gun still hung like a round 
white cloud just above the glassy surface of 
the sea. 

“ Sure she means to quit us, Mr. Lange- 
ly,” said I ; but Mr. Langely never answered, 
for just as he opened his lips to speak, the 
lookout roared, “ Sail ho !” 

“ Where away T sang out Mr. White, who 
was officer of the deck at that time. 


70 


The Rose of Paradise, 

But before the word reached us I myself, 
and I suspect most of the others, had sighted 
the craft away to the southward, coming up 
under full sail, and with a breeze of which 
we could see nothing. 

She was at that time some six or seven 
miles distant, and just emerging from be- 
hind a raised thicket of scrub bushes that 
lay betwi5ct her and the Cassandra, and 
which had hidden her until now. 

The strange craft was a large sloop, of 
such an appearance that even had not the 
pirate fired that which was no doubt a sig- 
nal-gun, methinks I should have entertained 
the most sinister and gloomy forebodings 
concerning her nature and her character. 

“ What do you think of her, Mr. Langely ?” 
said I, after watching her for some time in 
silence. 

“ It is the pirate’s consort, sir,” said he, 
very seriously. 

“ I do believe you are right,” said I, “ and 
that is why she has been waiting for all these 


71 


The Rose of Paradise, 

days, keeping us bottled up so that we could 
not have got away even if we had had a 
breeze.” 

I did not tell Mr. Langely all that was 
upon my mind ; nevertheless, I could not 
but regard our present position as one of 
the most extreme peril. For if one pirate 
craft, with its crew of blood-thirsty wretches, 
was a match for us sufficient to hold us 
where we now were, what harm might not 
two of them accomplish should they attack 
us peaceful merchantmen, unused as we 
were to the arts of war, in this narrow har- 
bor, where we might hope neither to ma- 
noeuvre nor to escape. 

We were already cleared for action, hav- 
ing had full time to prepare ourselves since 
danger had first threatened us ; according- 
ly, leaving Mr. Langely to supervise such 
few details as might still remain to demand 
attention, I had my gig lowered, and went 
aboard of the Greenwich to consult with 
Captain Kirby as to means of defending 


^2 The Rose of Paradise. 

ourselves against this new and additional 
danger that threatened our existence. 

The Ostend captain was there when I 
came aboard, and I fancied, though I then 
knew not why, that he and Captain Kirby 
looked at one another in a very strange and 
peculiar manner when I entered the cabin. 
Besides that, I noticed little or no prepara- 
tion for action had been made. 

“ We’ll stand by you,” says Captain Kir- 
by ; “ in course we’ll stand by you, though 
you must know it is each one for himself, 
and devil take the hindmost, at such times 
as these.” 

I was mightily amazed and taken aback 
at this speech. “ And why do you talk so 
about standing by me. Captain Kirby said 
I. “ Is it not, then, that we stand by one 
another ? Is my craft in greater peril than 
yours, or am I to be given up as a sacrifice 
to these wicked and bloody wretches ?” 

I thought he seemed vastly disturbed at 
this speech. 


The Rose of Paradise, 


73 


“ In course,” says he, “ we’ll stand by one 
another. All the same, each must look out 
for himself.” 

I regarded Captain Kirby for a while 
wdthout speaking, and he seemed more than 
ever troubled at my gaze. 

“ Sir ! sir !” I cried, “ I must tell you that 
I do not understand this matter. Do you 
not mean to make a fight of it .?” 

At this he flew into a mighty fume. 
“ How !” says he ; “ do you mean to ques- 
tion my courage } Do you call me a cow- 
ard .?” 

“No, sir,” says I, “I call you nothing; 
only I did not understand your speech. 
Sure, sir, you cannot but remember that I 
have three helpless women aboard my ship, 
and that it behooves you as a man and an 
Englishman to stand by me in this time of 
peril.” 

So saying, I left the cabin and the ship, 
but with the weight of trouble that lay 
upon my mind anything but lightened, for 


7^ The Rose of Paradise, 

I could not understand why, we all being 
in this peril together, neither he nor the 
Ostend captain had spoken a single word 
concerning our defence. 

However, I yet retained the hope that 
the pirates would not venture into our har- 
bor, seeing that we were three to two, and 
lying in a chosen position whence we might 
hope to defend ourselves for a long time, 
and to their undoing. 

Upon my return I found my passen- 
gers all in the great cabin, and in a very 
serious mood, having heard some rumor 
as to the danger that threatened. I stood 
for a while as though not knowing what 
to say, but at last I made shift to tell 
them how matters stood, and in what dan- 
ger we were like to be, though I smoothed 
everything over as much as lay in my 
power. I think that our peril had been 
pretty well discussed amongst them be- 
fore I confirmed it with that which I said. 
Nevertheless, I am amazed even now at 


The Rose of Pai^adise. ^5 

the coolness with which all hands regard- 
ed it. 

Mistress Pamela, I recollect, laid her 
hand lightly upon my arm. “ Whatever 
our danger may be,” she cried, “ this we all 
know, that we could confide our safety to 
no truer sailor nor more gallant man than 
he who commands this ship.” This she said 
before them all who were there standing. 

In my cabin I summoned Mr. Langely 
and Mr. White (my second mate) to a seri- 
ous consultation, which was the last we 
were to hold before that great and bloody 
battle concerning which so much hath been 
writ and spoken of late. When we had 
finished our councils we came upon deck 
again, and found that the sloop was rather 
less than a mile distant from the other craft, 
and in a little while she hove to nigh to the 
barque, and let go her anchor with a splash 
and rattle of the cable which we could hear 
distinctly whence we lay. 

For half an hour Mr. Langely and I stood 


y6 The Rose of Paradise, 

upon the poop-deck watching the two crafts 
by aid of the telescope, and what we saw in 
that time foreboded to my mind no good 
to ourselves. 

First we beheld a boat pass from the 
barque to the sloop, and in which was one 
evidently of great consequence amongst the 
pirates, for by aid of the glass we could 
distinguish that his apparel was better than 
the others, and also that he wore what ap- 
peared to be a crimson scarf tied about his 
body. 

He remained aboard the sloop for may- 
be the space of ten minutes, at the end of 
which time he returned again to the barque, 
where they immediately began lowering 
away the boats. Four of these boats were 
filled with men who were all transported to 
the sloop, up the side of which we soon saw 
them swarm to the number of fifty or more. 

Whilst these things had been going for- 
ward, Mr. Langely and I had been standing 
in silence, but now my first mate turned to 


77 


The Rose of Paradise. 

me, “ Sir,” said he, “ methinks that they mean 
to attack us.” 

I nodded my head in answer, but said 
nothing. 

By this time the breeze was well nigh 
upon us, for the smooth water all around 
us was dusked by the little cat’s-paws that 
swept the glassy surface. 

Now that morning, just before the pirate 
sloop hove in sight, I had got out warps by 
means of which I hoped to change our posi- 
tion, bringing the Cassandra nigher to the 
Greenwich, and to a station of greater de- 
fence. In this, however, we had made but 
little progress, for the current set strong 
against us at the present state of the tide. 
Seeing now the imminence of the attack, 
I hoisted sail, hoping to take advantage of 
the first wind, and bring the Cassandra 
closer to the Greenwich. 

What followed I am even now not able 
to explain, for I am slow to believe that one 


^8 The Rose of Paradise. 

English captain could desert another in 
such an emergency as the present. It might 
be that Captain Kirby thought that we in- 
tended trying to get away upon the wind, 
for the Greenwich also began immediately 
to set all her sail. Seeing what they were 
about I hailed the other craft, but got no 
answer. Then I hailed her again and again, 
but still received no reply. 

The next minute she, being open to the 
first puffs of the breeze by a valley, filled 
and bore away, followed by the Ostender, 
who had also set her sails, leaving me be- 
calmed where I was. 

“ My God !” cried Mr. Langely, “ do they 
mean to desert us ? Look, sir, here come 
the pirates !” 

I had just then been so intent upon the 
other vessels that I had not thought of ob- 
serving what our enemies were about, not 
thinking that they would take such imme- 
diate action. But, no doubt, seeing us set 
our sails, and fearing that we might get 


79 


The Rose of Paradise. 

away, slipped their own cables; for they 
were now coming down upan us with the 
freshening wind, having already entered the 
channel as boldly as though there were 
none to oppose them, the sloop leading the 
others by a quarter of a mile or so. Indeed 
the Greenwich and the Ostender bearing 
away had left the passage entirely open to 
them, with no one but ourselves to oppose 
them. 

In this extremity I hailed the Greenwich 
for a third time, and getting no answer, or- 
dered the gunner to fire across her bows, 
but in spite of this she did not heave to, 
whereupon we gave her a round shot, but 
whether to her harm or no I am not able 
to say. 

And now nothing remained for us but 
to fight what appeared a hopeless battle 
against heavy odds. 

The main ship-channel leading from the 
offing to the bay or harbor wherein the 


So The Rose of Paradise, 

Cassandra^ the Greenwich^ and the Osten- 
der had been riding for these days past, 
lead almost easterly and westerly, but so 
shaped by the sand-bars to the south and 
those shoals that ran out from the northern 
cape as to take the form of a very crooked 
letter S. Nowhere was this channel over 
half or three-quarters of a mile wide, and in 
some places it was hardly more than a quar- 
ter of a mile wide. 

From the position which the Cassandra 
occupied this entrance to the harbor was 
so well defended that any vessel entering 
thereat must be twice raked by our broad- 
side fire, once in rounding the northern, 
and once the southern angle of the channel. 
Hence it was that I determined to hold our 
present position as long as I was able. 

But the pirates did not both attack us by 
way of the main ship -channel as we had 
expected, for when they had rounded the 
northern angle the sloop, fearing perhaps 
that we would try to get away upon the 


The Rose of Paradise, 8i 

wind, instead of keeping in consort with 
the barque, made directly for us across the 
shoals that lay between us and them. This 
they were able to do without running 
aground, both because of their intimate 
knowledge of these intricate waters and of 
the small amount of water which the sloop 
drew. 

“We’ll rake ’em anyhow,” says I to Mr. 
Langely, for I could see no other means for 
them to approach us but to come upon us 
bow on, there being no room to manoeuvre 
among the bars and shoals that lay betwixt 
us and them. 

But the devilish ingenuity of these 
cruel, wicked wretches supplied them with 
other means than a direct attack upon 
the Cassandra, for, when they had come 
within about a mile or so of us, they 
hove to, dropped their main-sail, and, run- 
ning out great oars from the ports be- 
tween decks, began rowing towards us in 
a clumsy fashion, somewhat after the man- 
6 


82 The Rose of Paradise. 

ner of a galleon. By this means, and by 
the aid of the current which set towards 
us, they were enabled to keep nearly broad- 
side on, and so avoid being raked by our 
fire. 

“ Mr. Langely,” said I, “ if they are able 
to board us we are lost. Order the gun- 
ner to fire upon the oars and not upon the 
decks.” 

“ Ay, ay,” says he, and turned away. 


VIII. 


The pirates were the first to open the 
battle, which they did when within about a 
quarter of a mile from us, giving us a broad- 
side. It was the first time that I had ever 
been under fire in all of my life, and never 
shall I forget it as long as I may live. Their 
aim was wonderfully accurate, so that when 
their shot struck us a great cloud of white 
splinters flew from a dozen places at once. 
I saw three men drop upon the deck, and 
one who stood at a gun on the quarter-deck 
just below me leaned suddenly forward half 
across the cannon with a deep groan, whilst 
a fountain of blood gushed out from his 
bosom across the carriage and upon the deck. 
One of the others caught him by the arm, 
whereupon he turned half round and then 
slipped and fell forward upon his face. 


The Rose of Paradise, 


He was the first man killed in this action, 
and the first that I ever beheld die in a like 
manner. 

The Cassandra answered the pirate’s fire 
almost immediately. But our guns were 
trained, as I had ordered, upon the oars 
and not upon the crowded decks, so that 
while every shot that they delivered told 
upon the lives of the poor fellows aboard 
the Cassandra, our return fire did apparent- 
ly no harm to them. 

I hope I may never again feel such an 
agony of impatience and doubt and almost 
despair, as I beheld my men fall by ones 
and twos upon the deck, which soon became 
stained and smeared with their blood whilst 
the pirate craft came drifting ever nigher 
and nigher to us, its decks swarming with 
yelling, naked wretches that in their aspect 
and manners resembled demons incarnated 
rather than mortal men. 

“ Mr. Langely,” said I, in a low voice, “ if 
those oars are not broken in five minutes’ 


The Rose of Paradise, 8^ 

time we are all lost.” For there yet re- 
mained three thrust through the ports upon 
the side nighest to the Cassandra, and the 
current was carrying the pirate craft in 
such a direction that if they were able to 
hold their course a little while longer they 
would be almost certain to drift upon us 
and so board us. 

One minute passed, and two minutes, 
then there was a shiver of splinters, and 
only one oar was left. Instantly the stern 
of the sloop began to swing slowly around 
towards us, for one oar was not enough to 
keep her to the current. I could see the 
ash wood bend with the strain like a willow 
twig, then — snap! — it broke, and around 
came the stern with a swing directly un- 
der our fire. The pirates sprang to the 
main -sheets, but it was too late to save 
themselves. 

When the crew of the Cassandra saw the 
result of their fire they burst out shouting 
and cheering like madmen. Down came 


86 


The Rose of Paradise. 


the sloop drifting stern on, whilst the Cas- 
sandra, making up for lost time, poured 
broadside after broadside into her. Never 
did I behold such a sight in all of my life, 
for every shot we gave her ploughed great 
lanes along her crowded decks. To make 
matters worse for them, their mast was pres- 
ently shot through, falling alongside in a 
great tangled wreck, thus preventing any 
manoeuvres which they might still have 
hoped to make. They drifted by us at 
about forty or fifty yards’ distance, shout- 
ing and yelling, and giving us a last broad- 
side with great courage and determination. 
They presently ran aground upon a sand- 
bar and there stuck fast for the time, 
though in such shoal water that we could 
not come nigher to them than we then 
were. 

All this while the barque had been slow- 
ly making her way through the tortuous 
turnings of the channel' At one point, the 
water being low, she had run aground, and 


The Rose of Paradise, Sy 

though she had cleared again with the rising 
tide, she had been so delayed by this mis- 
chance that she had not been able to come 
up in aid of her consort. 

But immediately they discerned what mis- 
hap had befallen the sloop, and that she 
was fast aground and in no present position 
to attack us, they hove to and lay directly 
athwart the channel. 

I at once perceived their intentions, and 
that they were determined to keep us shut 
up where we were until the sloop could float 
clear away with the rising tide and resume 
her attack against us. It was then that the 
resolve entered my mind not to await an at- 
tack but to seek it ourselves ; for though the 
crew of the barque must have outnumbered 
that of the Cassandra two to one, she was 
yet much the smaller vessel of the two and 
the less heavily armed. Now, if we could 
only once get past her and safe into the 
channel our safety would be well nigh as- 
sured ; for, as said above, the Cassandra 


8S The Rose of Paradise, 

was one of the best sailers at the East India 
Company’s docks. 

I turned and beckoned my first mate to 
me. “Sir,” said I, “yonder is our one and 
only chance of getting away ; we must run 
down upon that vessel in the channel, en- 
gage her, and trust to God and take our 
chance of getting safe past her and away. 
If we are fortunate enough to pass her we 
can gain a good start before she can round 
to in such narrow sea-room.” Mr. Lange- 
ly opened his mouth as though to speak. 
“ Nay, nay, sir,” I cried, “ it is our only 
chance, and we must take it.” 

At first we did not suffer so much as I 
had expected from the fire of the pirate ; but 
when we had come within one hundred or 
two hundred yards of them, and when with- 
in range of the musketry in their fore and 
main tops, their fire was truly dreadful. 

The Cassandra s wheel was stationed un- 
der the overhang of the poop-deck, and upon 


The Rose of Paradise. 8g 

the helmsman most of their aim was concen- 
trated ; for if the Cassandra was once al- 
lowed to fall off, and should run aground in 
the narrow channel, she would then be in 
their power, and they could destroy her at 
their leisure. 

One after another three men fell at that 
dangerous post, which was entirely open to 
the pirate’s fire. W e were now within one 
hundred and fifty yards of them, and a fourth 
took hold, but only for a minute, for he pres- 
ently dropped upon his knees, though he 
still kept a tight grip on the wheel, keeping 
the ship upon her course. Mr. Langely and 
I were standing under the overhang of the 
poop, whereupon he, seeing that the man 
was wounded, without waiting for orders 
from me, sprang forward and seized the 
wheel in his own hands just as the other 
fell forward upon his face. 

The next minute Mr. Langely cried out, 
“My God, captain, I am shot!” His right 
hand fell at his side, and in an instant I be- 


po The Rose of Paradise. 

held his shirt stained with blood that guslTed 
out from the wound in his shoulder. 

The ship beginning to fall off, I ran for- 
ward and took the wheel myself, for in a 
minute more, if we held our course, we 
would be under the pirate’s stern, and in a 
position to rake them with our starboard 
broadside. I heard a dozen bullets strike 
into the wood-work around me ; one struck 
the wheel, so that I felt as if my hand 
and my wrist were paralyzed by the jar. 
The next instant I felt a terrible blow upon 
my head ; a hot red stream gushed over my 
face and into my eyes, and for a moment 
my brain reeled. Some one caught hold 
of me, but just as darkness settled upon me 
I felt the ship shake beneath me and heard 
the roar of our broadside. We were under 
the pirate’s stern at last. 

I could not have lain insensible for m.any 
minutes, for when I opened my eyes and 
saw the surgeon and my second mate bend- 


The Rose of Paradise, gi 

ing over me, it was still with the roar of 
cannon in my ears. 

“ How is this, Mr. White V cried I ; “ are 
we not then past the pirate T 

“Sir,” said my second mate, in a very se- 
rious voice, “ we are run aground.” 

“ And the pirate V cried I. 

“ She is also aground,” said he, “ and we 
rake her with every shot.” 

I got to my feet, in spite of the surgeon s 
protest, putting him impatiently aside. 

It was as Mr. White said ; the pirate was 
aground about two or three hundred yards 
away from us, fast stuck upon the bar, stern 
towards us. She must have received more 
than one shot betwixt wind and water, for 
she was heeled over to one side, and I could 
see a stream of bloody water pouring con- 
tinually from her scupper-holes. 

But I also saw that we were stuck hard 
and fast, and that though our position was 
better than theirs, every shot that we fired 
drove us with the recoil more firmly aground. 


g2 The Rose of Paradise, 

I at once gave orders that all firing except 
with muskets should be stopped; so there 
we lay aground for more than half an hour, 
answering the pirate’s fire with our flintlocks. 

Although this was dreadful for us to 
bear at the time, in the end it proved to be 
our salvation ; for when the tide raised we 
floated clear fully ten minutes before the pi- 
rates, and so escaped immediate destruction. 

In the mean time, whilst we lay there the 
sloop had floated clear, and the pirates hav- 
ing cut away the wreck of the main-mast, 
and having rigged up oars like those we 
had shot away, presently came to the aid of 
their consort. Seeing our situation, and 
that we were fast aground, they did not at- 
tack us directly, but made for the channel 
by the way which they had left it, thus en- 
tering above us and cutting off all our 
chance of escape. For though we had so 
nearly passed the other craft, we could not 
hope to pass them without being boarded, 
for with their oars they could come as they 


The Rose of Paradise, pj 

chose, and were not dependent on the 
wind. 

So soon as they had entered the chan- 
nel they laid their course directly for us, 
but before they could come up with us, we 
also had floated clear, as before stated ; and 
though we could not escape to the open 
water, we were yet enabled to enter the 
harbor again, which we did, followed by the 
fire of the pirate barque. 

The wind now had almost fallen away 
again, so that the sloop, driven by her oars, 
and enabled by her light draught to cross 
the shoals and bars which we could not 
make, began to draw up with us, endeavor- 
ing with all diligence to board us. Never- 
theless, we contrived to make a running 
fight of it for almost an hour. 

At last, the other vessel having repaired 
her damages, and having some time since 
floated clear off, came down upon us in aid 
of her consort, for the sloop was very plain- 
ly filling rapidly, having heeled over so much 


94 


The Rose of Paradise. 

to one side that her decks were greatly ex- 
posed to our fire. 

For all this long time the Greenwich and 
Ostender had been riding at about three or 
four miles distant, not being able to escape 
to open water whilst the pirates held the 
channel. But so far from coming to our as- 
sistance, they made no sign of help or fired 
so much as a single gun in our aid. 

By this time more than half of my officers 
and men had been either killed or wounded, 
so that when I beheld the barque, crowded 
with naked, howling wretches, thirsting for 
our blood, come bearing down upon us, and 
when I beheld how little hope there was of 
Captain Kirby’s coming to our assistance, 
I could see no other chance for our safety 
than to run the Cassandra ashore, and, if 
possible, to escape to the beach as best we 
could. Accordingly, I gave the necessary 
orders to Mr. White, and the Cassandra laid 
her course for the beach, closely followed 
only by the pirate barque, the sloop having 


The Rose of Paradise, 95 

already been run ashore about half a mile 
below to keep her from sinking. 

In five minutes the Cassandra struck, 
grounding at about fifty yards from the 
shore. The pirate drew fully four feet less 
water, but it pleased God that she stuck 
fast on higher ground, so that, after all, they 
were prevented from boarding us. 

Here we fought, for nearly an hour, the 
last, and I know not whether it was not the 
bloodiest engagement of that whole day; 
nor can I sufficiently praise the behavior 
not only of the officers, but of the men, 
who even in this extremity behaved with 
the most extraordinary courage, though the 
crew of the sloop supplied the larger vessel 
with three boatfuls of fresh men. 

Meantime the Greenwich followed the 
lead of the Ostender and stood clear away 
to sea, leaving us struggling in the very 
jaws of death. Soon after the pirate craft 
floated clear off with the rising tide, and 
immediately fell to work fitting out warps 


The Rose of Paradise. 

to haul out under our stern, though still at 
some distance from us. 

Seeing this, no hope remained for us 
but to leave the ship, if possible, with the 
passengers and such of our men as were 
still alive, trusting to Providence not only 
to bring us safe away, but to keep us all in 
that desolate country amongst a strange 
and savage people. 


IX. 


As said above, it was now past six o’clock, 
and Mr. White and the boatswain were the 
only unwounded officers with whom I dared 
intrust the command of the boats in execut- 
ing my plans for leaving the ship.* 

The long-boat and the gig were all that 
remained sound and uninjured, the others 
having been shot or stove during the en- 
gagement. It was arranged that Mr. Jeks, 
the boatswain, should command the long- 
boat, and Mr. White the gig. The passen- 
gers and the less seriously wounded were 
to go in the long-boat ; Mr. White to take 


* Mr. Richards, the third mate, had been killed by 
a grape bullet when we ran down upon the larger of 
the pirate crafts. He was a young man of great prom- 
ise, of but twenty-two years of age, and my cousin’s 
son. 


7 


^8 The Rose of Paradise, 

those who had been more dangerously hurt 
in the gig. 

By this time the wind had died down 
again, and it was as calm as it had been the 
two days before, so that the smoke hung 
thick about the ship and upon the water, 
and did not drift away. Although, because 
of this thick cloud, we could not see our 
enemy, and so could not point our guns 
with any sureness of aim, it also prevented 
him from seeing us and what we were about, 
so that all our movements were concealed 
from him as his were from us. 

Mr. Langely having come upon deck at 
this time, though very weak and feeble from 
the pain of his wound, I intrusted the clear- 
ing away and lowering of the boats to him, 
while I went below to advise the women of 
our plans, and to tell them to get together 
such matters as they might need in this 
emergency. I found them in a most pitia- 
ble state, having been sent below at the first 
sign of the approaching battle, and left by 


99 


The Rose of Paradise, 

themselves for all this long time with no 
light but that of a lantern slung from the 
deck above, hearing the uproar of the fight 
and the groans of the wounded without once 
knowing whether matters were going for us 
or against us. 

The two ladies sat, or rather crouched, 
upon a chest or box, holding one another 
by the hand. Mistress Ann lay huddled in 
a corner in a most extreme state of terror 
and distraction. 

I may even yet see in my mind’s eye how 
Mistress Pamela appeared when I clam- 
bered down the ladder: her face was as 
white as marble, and her eyes gazed out 
from the shadow of her brows with a most 
intense and burning glance. My heart bled 
for the poor creatures when I thought how 
much they must have suffered since they 
were sent to this dreadful place. 

So soon as they saw me they fell to 
screaming, and clung to one another. Nor 
did I wonder at their distraction when I be- 


100 The Rose of Paradise, 

held myself a few minutes later in the glass 
in my cabin, for my face and hands were 
blackened with the smoke of the powder, 
my shirt and waistcoat were stained with 
the blood which had poured out from the 
wound in my head, and around my brow was 
bound a bloody napkin which I had hasti- 
ly wrapped about my head so soon as I had 
recovered from the first effects of my wound. 
But just then I knew not how I looked, nor 
reckoned anything of it, for in a fight such 
as we had passed through one has little 
time to think of such matters. 

“ Ladies,” said I, speaking as gently as 
I could, “ be not afraid ; it is I, Captain 
Mackra.” 

At this Mrs. Evans burst into a great pas- 
sion of weeping, with her face buried in her 
hands, while Mistress Pamela still regarded 
me, though with a fixed and stony stare. 

“ Oh God !” she cried ; “ and are you 
hurt?” And she pointed with her out- 
stretched finger to my head. 


V 







W' * 















lOI 


The Rose of Paradise, 

“ Why, no,” says I, making shift to force 
a laugh in spite of the anxiety with which I 
was consumed ; “ it is a mere scratch, and 
nothing to speak of. There is no time now 
to talk of such little matters as this, but 
only of leaving the ship, for we can defend 
ourselves no longer. Get together what 
things you need from your cabin, and make 
haste, for there is no time to lose.” 

I believe that Mistress Ann had fainted 
clean away when she had caught sight of 
me climbing down the ladder, for we found 
that she was in no condition to move, so I 
picked her up in my arms and bore her to 
the great cabin, the others following close 
behind. There I left them and went again 
upon deck, where I found that they were 
bringing the wounded up from below. 

I hope I may never see such a sight again 
to the very last day of my life, for it is one 
thing to behold a man shot in the heat of 
an action, and another and a mightily differ- 
ent thing to see one of one’s own shipmates 


102 


The Rose of Paradise, 

carried groaning in a hammock wet and 
stained with his blood. 

We had so grounded that we lay within 
fifty yards of the shore, and it could take 
but a little while for a boat to go thither 
and return to the ship again. Nevertheless, 
I deemed it necessary to give the Rose of 
Paradise into the keeping of some one go- 
ing upon this first passage, and upon whom 
I could entirely rely. The boatswain had 
the care of the women, which was, of course, 
of the first importance of all; therefore, 
there remained no one in whose hands I 
could place it with as much confidence as in 
those of Mr. White. 

It was very necessary to keep up the show 
of fighting, lest the pirates should think we 
had surrendered, and so come aboard of 
us, but all hands who could be spared from 
the guns were engaged in lowering the 
wounded into the long-boat and gig. 

Leaving Mr. Langely in charge of this, 
I took Mr. White into my cabin; there I 


The Rose of Paradise, loj 

opened the locker that I had made in my 
berth, and took out the box containing the 
jewel. 

“ Sir,” said I, “ I am about to show you a 
sign both of my regard and of my esteem. 
In this box is a jewel worth above three 
hundred thousand pounds; this I intrust 
for the present into your keeping. When 
you get to the shore you will not return 
with the gig, but will remain where you are, 
sending the boat back under some one 
whom you may choose among your crew. 
Should I perish, or should the pirates board 
this ship before you return (in which event 
I cannot hope to escape with my life), you 
will convey this trust to Mr. Longways, the 
Company’s agent at the king’s town. And 
now, sir, I wish you God’s speed.” 

Mr. White was about to reply, but I 
checked him, telling him that he could best 
show his regard for me by leaving the ship 
without further words. 

We quitted my cabin together, and just 


104 The Rose of Pm'adise, 

outside we met Captain Leach, whom I had 
noticed repeatedly for the last half-hour, 
and never very far away from me. He came 
directly towards Mr. White and me, but he 
did not so much as glance at the box that 
Mr. White held, but spoke to me. 

“ I came upon Mistress Pamela Boon’s 
account,” said he. “ The women are ready 
to quit the ship, and Mistress Ann is yet in 
a dead swoon.” 

“ I will go to them,” said I ; and then 
turning to Mr. White, I said, very seriously, 
“ Remember !” 

He did not answer, but bowed his head, 
and I turned and left him. Captain Leach 
following close behind me. He did not en- 
ter with me into the great cabin, but waited 
without, and when I came out a few min- 
utes later I saw that he was gone. 

I found the ladies waiting in the cabin, 
each with a bundle tied up in a kerchief. 
The waiting-woman lay upon the floor, still 
in a swoon, with Mistress Pamela kneeling 


The Rose of Paradise, lO^ 

beside her, chafing and slapping her hands, 
whilst Mrs. Evans sat at the table with her 
face buried in her palms. So soon as I en- 
tered Mistress Pamela arose. 

“ Sir,” said she, “ Captain Leach told me 
he would inform you that we were ready.” 

“So he did, madam,” said I, “and I am 
come to help you embark.” 

As there was no sign of the waiting-wom- 
an’s revival from her fit, I was constrained 
to carry her upon the deck, as I had already 
done from below. 

The boat under command of Mr. White 
was already gone, for it had taken several 
minutes for me to bring the women upon 
deck. We stowed them into the long-boat, 
and it pushed off immediately and was lost 
in the smoke. We then brought up the rest 
of the wounded from below, who were those 
who had been most desperately hurt in the 
action. These we laid upon the deck, so 
as to be in readiness for lowering into the 
boats so soon as they should return. 


io6 The Rose of Paradise, 

In the mean time I had given orders to 
those not thus occupied with the wounded 
to load many of the guns, with slow-matches 
in the breeches to burn from five to ten min- 
utes. Thus the firing might be kept up af- 
ter all had left the ship, whereby we hoped 
that the pirates would be stayed a while 
from boarding and so discover our absence. 
In about ten minutes the gig returned with- 
out Mr. White, and the master’s mate, who 
was in command in his stead, said that he 
had remained ashore with the women, as 
I had commanded him. In a very little 
while, the long - boat also returning, we 
got all hands aboard and pushed off, the 
guns still firing now and then as the 
slow-matches burned down. So we came 
safe to shore, but with no time to spare, 
for by the great shouts that were present- 
ly raised we knew that the pirates had 
come aboard the Cassandra^ and in less 
than three minutes after the last man had 
quitted her. 


The Rose of Paradise, loy 

Not more than fifteen or twenty minutes 
had been occupied in making ready and 
quitting the ship ; for which celerity, and 
for the great coolness shown in this try- 
ing emergency, all praise is due both to 
the officers and the men. The fight had 
lasted for more than four hours and a 
half, during which time we had nine men 
killed, among whom was the third mate 
above mentioned, and twenty- two wound- 
ed, three of whom afterwards died upon 
the island. 

Besides the clothes and valuables which 
many had fetched away with them* we had 
also brought off with us from the ship a 

* I may say here that I myself was but poorly 
equipped in this respect, having not only forgot my 
watch, which I had left hanging in my cabin, but being 
also without shoes and stockings, which I had stripped 
off so that I might more readily swim for it if the pi- 
rates should come aboard whilst the boats were gone 
on their first trip to the shore. At the last moment 
I was so busied in supervising the lowering of the 
wounded into the boats that I did not think of return- 
ing for the one or of securing the other. 


io8 The Rose of Paradise. 

quantity of musquets and pistols, and a 
dozen or more rounds of ammunition for 
each able-bodied man. 

As soon as we landed we plunged direct- 
ly into the thick brush, which there grew 
close down to the edge of the beach. Hav- 
ing thrust our way through these thickets 
for some distance, we found the others 
waiting for us at a little open space at 
the base of three palm-trees which stood 
about two hundred yards from the shore, 
it being then nigh to sunset, and with but 
little chance of the pirates following us that 
day. 

Mr. White was standing near my passen- 
gers, who were gathered together in a group, 
but one of them was missing. It was Cap- 
tain Leach. 

“And where is Captain Leach I cried, 
looking directly at Mr. White. 

He gazed at me in an exceedingly strange 
manner, and I saw that he grew as pale as 
death to the very lips. “And did he not 


The Rose of Paradise. log 

come in the boat with you, sir ?” said he at 
last, in a low and husky voice. 

At these words a terrible fear came over 
me. “ Where is the box I gave you V I 
cried; and seeing that he was not like to 
answer, repeated the question — “ Where is 
the box I gave you V 

By way of reply Mr. White fumbled for a 
moment or two in his waistcoat-pocket, and 
presently handed me a scrap of paper. I 
opened it, and tried to read, though my 
hand trembled so that I could hardly con- 
trive to make out what it was. But in spite 
of that, and the blurring of my eyesight, 
every word and every letter is stamped upon 
my memory as upon a plate of brass. 

It was written as though in mine own 
handwriting, and very hastily scrawled, but 
so like that I could not have told it myself 
had I not known it to be a forgery. 

These were the words : 

— I have altered my mind in regard to 
the box. Please deliver it to the bearer {Captain 


no The Rose of Paradise. 

LeacJi), who will take present charge of it^ and 
will convey it to me. 

'‘John Mackra.” 

As I still held the letter in my hand, gaz- 
ing stupidly at it, but seeing nothing, the 
whole villany of the business was, as it were, 
revealed to me. I saw that when Captain 
Leach had left the ship in the native canoe 
two nights ago he had come straight to the 
pirates and had made some bargain with 
them for that accursed Rose of Paradise ; 
that when he had gone aboard the Greenwich 
and the Ostender the next day, it was not to 
secure a passage for himself, but rather to per- 
suade them to sacrifice the Cassandra., and 
so save their own wretched hulks; that when 
he had sent rne to the women in the great 
cabin it was to get rid of me so that he 
might tamper with Mr. White ; and last of 
all, that he had kept this forged letter about 
him for just such an occasion as this. Then 
I thought of my shipmates killed and wound- 
ed, of my vessel and cargo lost, of all these 


The Rose of Paradise. iii 

poor people outcasts upon this savage, des- 
ert coast, with no present prospect or hope 
of help, and of the stone itself thus cheated 
out of my hands at the last moment, and 
after all the suffering and the blood that 
had been shed. There came a great roar- 
ing in mine ears, all things began to reel 
before my sight, a dark cloud seemed to 
encompass me, and then I knew nothing 
more. 


X. 


After I had thus swooned away, which 
happened both from the fever of my wound 
and the loss of blood, there followed a long 
time during which everything was confused 
and dream-like. I may call to mind what 
seemed to me a great and toilsome journey, 
but so commingled with the visions of my 
fever that I knew not whether it had taken 
hours, days, or weeks, and of which I may 
remember almost nothing. After that I 
have a memory of tossing upon a pallet 
which was both rough and hard, of a dark- 
ened and silent room, and of people coming 
and going and talking in whispers. Then 
one morning I awoke as though from a deep 
sleep, and felt that the heat of the fever had 
left me, though mightily weak and weary. 
This awakening must have happened be- 


The Rose of Paradise, iij 

twixt four and five o’clock in the morning, 
for the mat which hung at the door had 
been raised, and a cool and refreshing breeze 
swept through the mud hut. 

I lay for a long time looking out of the 
door towards which my couch was facing, 
and through which I could see hillocks of 
gray sand intermingled with rich and luxu- 
riant vegetation ; beyond, the rim of the 
ocean stretched like a black thread against 
the gray sky. I gave no thought to any- 
thing, but lay quite still, feeling mighty 
peaceful and quiet. By-and-by I turned 
mine eyes and saw that some one sat beside 
me, and that it was Mr. White. He did not 
see that I was observing him, but sat read- 
ing his Bible, for he was a young man of 
great earnestness of spirit. The sight of 
him brought first one thing and then an- 
other back to my memory, until the whole 
was complete as I have told it. 

“ Mr. White,” said I. I spoke very quiet- 
ly, but he could not have started more vio- 
8 


ii^ The Rose of Paradise. 

lently had a clap of thunder sounded from 
the -sky. He came straight to me, and laid 
his hand upon my forehead. “Yes,” said I, 
making shift to smile, “ the fever has left me 
now ; and will you tell me where I am ?” 

“ Sir,” says he, “ you are safe, and in the 
king s town ; and now I will go and tell the 
surgeon of the bettering of your condition.” 
So saying he left me, and Mr. Greenacre, 
the surgeon, presently came to me. He 
told me that all hands had been brought 
safe to the king’s town; that I might set 
my mind at rest both regarding the passen- 
gers and the crew ; and that I must not now 
talk further, but should seek to rest myself, 
which was very necessary for me to do in 
my present condition. Nor was I inclined 
to disobey this command, but presently 
closed mine eyes and fell into a most re- 
freshing slumber, from which I did not 
awake until nigh sunset, when I found that 
Mr. White was once more beside me. When 
he saw that I was awake he made as if he 


The Rose of Paradise. 7/5 

would again go and call the surgeon, but I 
stopped him from doing as he intended. 

“ Stay, Mr. White,” said I. “ I should like 
now to know something more of what has 
happened. How long have I been lying in 
this condition 

“About six days, sir,” said he. And then, 
in a trembling voice, “ Oh, Captain Mackra, 
can you forgive me for the injury I have 
done.?” 

“ Why, sir,” said I, “ I have nothing to 
forgive, nor have you done anything for 
which to beseech forgiveness. What you 
did you did with the best intent; nor can 
I blame you for being so deceived by such 
a wicked and cunning villain as Captain 
Leach. And now tell me, what news is 
there of the pirates .?” To this he answered 
that they were still lying at anchor in the 
bay on the east side of the island, repairing 
the damages which we had wrought; that 
the chief ot them was one Edward England, 
a fellow of great note among these wicked 


ii6 The Rose of Paradise, 

villains; that they had been so enraged at 
that bloody fight, which had cost them so 
dear, that they had set a reward of two thou- 
sand pounds upon my head; and that the 
king of the island had offered us his protec- 
tion, and had undertaken to guard us se- 
curely from any attack the pirates might be 
inclined to make against us. But, neverthe- 
less, lest any of the natives should be of a 
mind to betray me for this great and mag- 
nificent reward, it had been deemed best 
that it should be reported that I had been 
killed in the late engagement. 

After having recounted these things as 
briefly as possible, Mr. White again went in 
search of the surgeon, who soon came, and 
put a very cheerful face upon my case, which 
he said was now without doubt upon the 
mend. 

After having eaten a very hearty supper 
of rich and savory broth, I was so far re- 
freshed as to be able to receive some few 
who particularly desired to have speech with 


The Rose of Paradise. iiy 

me, and who were presently ushered in by 
Mr. Greenacre. 

The first to come was my former ac- 
quaintance, Mr. Longways, the Company’s 
agent, and with him a great tall native chief, 
who had rather the appearance of a Malay 
than an African negro, and who was none 
other than King Kulakula himself. With 
these two came a black interpreter from 
Mozambique, for King Coffee could not 
speak one single word of English, but only 
a little Dutch, which he had picked up from 
the traders along the coast. 

After them came the two ladies, escorted 
by Mr. Langely, who had now so far recov- 
ered from his wound as to be able to be 
about with ease, although he still carried his 
arm in a sling. 

Mrs. Evans, when she saw me, gushed into 
tears, but Mistress Pamela came straight to 
me, took my hand, and set it to her lips, 
though I strove my best to stay her from 
doing so. 


The Rose of Paradise. 


ii8 

“ Sir,” said she, “ what do we not owe to 
our brave preserver, who hath brought us 
safe through all this great trouble !” 

“ No, madam,” cried I, hastily, for I could 
not bear that she should lay credit to me, 
who had so little earned it, seeing how help- 
less I had been in bringing them safe off 
from the Cassandra — “ no, madam, give no 
credit to me ; give it first of all to God, and 
then to Mr. Langely, who, though so sorely 
wounded, brought you, I understand, safe 
through the wilderness to this place.” 

After they had so spoken, comes King 
Kulakula forward with the interpreter, and 
through the black man expressed many kind 
and condescending wishes for the continued 
bettering of my condition. He furthermore 
gave me every assurance that we should all 
be protected from our enemies so long as 
we chose to remain at that place. 

After a little while my visitors left me, ex- 
cept Mr. Longways, who, by permission of 
the surgeon, remained behind to exchange 


The Rose of Paradise, iig 

a few words with me. I then observed for 
the first time how sadly different he was in 
his appearance from what he had been ; for 
the jauntiness of his carriage was gone, and 
he looked mightily perturbed in his spirits. 

So soon as he had made sure that no one 
was by to overhear us, he began without pref- 
ace to talk about the Rose of Paradise, say- 
ing that Mr. White had told him that it had 
been lost, and also some details of the mat- 
ter; that that loss meant ruin to him, who 
could say no word in his own defence ex- 
cepting by letter, while I had every oppor- 
tunity of stating my case in my own fashion 
to the East India Company when I should 
come home, and so clear myself and leave 
him in the mire. But in spite of that it was 
his opinion that even I, with all these ad- 
vantages in my favor, would have great trou- 
ble in making matters straight; for the loss 
of three hundred thousand pounds, besides 
my ship and cargo, was a thing that was not 
likely to be passed over very lightly. 


120 The Rose of Paradise. 

I could hardly forbear smiling at this dis- 
course, although it was of such a serious 
nature, for it seemed very strange to me 
that Mr. Longways should so readily sus- 
pect me of being disposed to ruin him. 

“ Sir,” said I, “ I know not what you 
would do in such a case as this, but I tell 
you plain that if I am compelled to make 
an unfortunate report to the East India 
Company, I will make it without blaming 
you or myself or any one, but simply tell the 
truth, and so let them adjudge the matter as 
they see fit.” 

“ That is it, sir,” cried he — “ that is it, sir. 
If the Company are informed that I be- 
trayed this important secret to Captain 
Leach, I’ll have to whistle for it a long time 
out in the cold before I get a snug berth 
with them again.” 

“ I am mightily sorry for you,” said I, 
gravely. “ But of course, sir, that is a mat- 
ter concerning which you alone are respon- 
sible. Nevertheless, I must tell you that I 


I2I 


The Rose of Paradise, 

am not inclined to leave this place without 
endeavoring to recover that which has been 
so unfortunately lost.” 

“ What, sir !” he cried ; “ do you mean to 
say that you will undertake to recover the 
Rose of Paradise again And how do you 
purpose doing it, may I ask T 

“ You may ask, sir,” says I, smiling ; “ but 
as for my telling you, why, that is a very 
different matter.” 

Yet I had determined upon one point al- 
most as soon as Mr. White had informed 
me who was the pirate captain into whose 
hands the Cassandra had fallen, and that 
was to go aboard of the pirate craft, and to 
speak with Captain Edward England him- 
self. I had known him before he had en- 
tered into the nefarious life which he now 
followed, and while he was still first mate 
of the Lady Alice, I was then with Cap- 
tain Wraxel in the West Indies, and had 
met England at Kingston, in the island of 
Jamaica, upon which occasion he had ap- 


122 The Rose of Paradise, 

peared to conceive quite a liking for me, 
though I cannot say it was returned in 
kind. I knew him as a wild and reckless 
blade, but neither blood-thirsty nor cruel, 
and making every allowance for the change 
in his nature which this wicked life might 
effect, I did not believe that injury would 
happen to me if I could once gain his prom- 
ise of safety in visiting his ship. 

As for the jewel, I did not believe that 
Captain Leach would disclose the secret of 
it without he had been compelled to do so ; 
wherefore, if he had it still in his own keep- 
ing, I entertained a hope that I might by 
some trick or other snatch the precious 
stone away from him again. In that event 
I did not believe he would say anything, for 
fear that the pirates might punish him for 
keeping it a secret from them. 

But although I could perceive, as Mr. 
Longways had said, that it was of great 
importance both to his future and mine 
own that the Rose of Paradise should be re- 


The Rose of Paradise, 12 j> 

gained, I ventured my life not so much in 
the hope of obtaining the stone as of pro- 
curing some means by which all hands 
might be able to quit the island; for we — 
and more especially the women — could not 
but be in constant danger from the bloody 
wretches thirsting for revenge on account 
of the check which we of the Cassandra 
had lately put upon them. Wherefore I 
thought it best that I should boldly visit 
the pirate captain, for I had great hopes of 
being able to persuade him to allow us to 
escape, and even of procuring from him 
some means to that end. 

In any case, the venture could not but be 
of advantage to us, for even if I should per- 
ish, their revenge might thereby be satisfied, 
and they might depart without molesting 
the rest of the ship’s company, for they were 
pleased to regard me as the chief cause of 
all their mishaps in the late engagement. 

Before I dared venture aboard the pirate 
craft it was necessary that I should first 


124 


The Rose of Paradise, 


write a letter to the captain, and also that 
I should have a trustworthy person to con- 
vey my communication to him ; nor did I 
give two thoughts to this matter, for com- 
mon justice pointed to Mr. White as the 
only fitting one to be my messenger ; ac- 
cordingly I sent for him, and he soon came. 
I told him that I desired to open communi- 
cation with the pirate captain upon a mat-, 
ter of great importance, and that I gave him 
this opportunity towards redeeming his self- 
respect by conveying my message to Cap- 
tain England. Nor have I ever seen a man 
more grateful than Mr. White upon this 
occasion ; two or three times he strove to 
speak, and when he did contrive to do so it 
was only simply to say, “ Sir, I thank you.” 

The surgeon having given me permission, 
I wrote my letter, and Mr. White took it that 
very night, having no companion with him 
but two natives who acted as guides. I have 
a copy of the letter, made at the time, which 
runs as follows : 


The Rose of Paradise, 12^ 

To Captain Edward England: 

“ Sir ^ — / write you this in a most forlorn and 
distressing situation. 

'■^Having defended ourselves^ our ship, and those 
intrusted to our keeping, from you, who sought to 
encompass our destructiori by all means in yoiir 
pozver, IV e now find ourselves reduced to the neces- 
sity of imploring aid from you, zvho so lately sought 
our lives. Nor would we even yet ask anything 
from you were it not for three poor and helpless 
zvomen, whose safety here is a matter of zincer- 
tainty from day to day, and who, without aid is 
extended to them, may perish miserably in this 
desolate and savage land. 

Sir, though a zvild and ungoverned nature, I 
never kfiew you to be a cruel man ; therefore I ask 
this aid of you for the sake of these three women. 

^^Furthermore, I ask that you do not hastily re- 
fuse this plea for aid, but may allow me to come 
aboard of your craft and speak to you in person. 

“ / k7tow that there is zvith you one who is mine 
enemy, because of a great injury which he hath 
done me, and who will zio doubt conspire against 
my life — I mean Captain Leach, lately one of my 
passengers, and who, I suspect along with others, 
betrayed us into your hands. But although I be- 


126 


The Rose of Paradise, 


lieve he would seek my life^ yet I am willing to 
trust it into your hands if you will promise me 
safety in my coming and my going. 

‘‘ Sir ^ I beseech you to grant me this speech with 
yoUy that I may plead the cause of the weak and 
helpless^ and am^ sir, 

“ Your very obedient and humble servant, 

“John Mackra.” 


XL 


Mr. White was only gone for a little 
more than two days, and when he returned 
he brought with him a letter from the pirate 
captain. The communication ran thus : 

“ To Captain John Mackra^ late of the ‘ Cassan- 
dra 

“ Sir, — If you choose to risk your life by corn- 
ing hither^ devil a zvord have I to say against it. 
They re a wild set of blades under me, and mind 
the helm no better than a washing-tub, so that my 
orders have little or no weight with them. All the 
same, if you re the man to come aboard, and have 
the courage to face the matter out. Til do zvhat I 
can to see that no harm happens to you. But if 
youll take a friend's advice you ll stay where you 
are, and let a bad matter cure itself, for you know 
very well that there is no use splicing a rotten rope. 
As for the pickle you're in, lay that to your luck, 
and not to me. 


'‘Edward England.” 


128 The Rose of Paradise, 

I was none too well pleased with this pre- 
cious epistle, for I could see very readily 
how little command Captain England held 
upon the wretches under him. Neverthe- 
less, it did not alter my determination to 
to go aboard of the pirate craft and to speak 
with him. I was the more inclined to do 
this as I felt well assured that the pirates 
could not now be as hot for my blood as 
they had been at first. 

It was necessary for me to get away from 
the king’s town without confiding my de- 
termination to any one, or any one having 
knowledge of my departure, for I knew very 
well that there was not one of my officers 
but would have stayed me from acting on 
my plans had they been informed of them, 
even if they should find it needful to use 
force to prevent my going. 

It was the evening of the eighth day since 
the fight when Mr. White returned with 
Captain England’s letter, and I determined 


The Rose of Paradise, i2g 

that that very night should witness my de- 
parture upon my enterprise, which to one 
looking coolly upon it might seem little if 
any better than the frantic act of a mad- 
man. Nor was it that I myself was uncon- 
scious of the magnitude of these dangers, 
for I entered upon them only because that 
in the desperate state of our necessities I 
could see no other course out of our dif- 
ficulties, and so had to choose this for lack 
of a better. Accordingly, as said above, I 
determined to set out that very night, for 
nothing could be gained by further delay. 

There was no other choice left me but to 
make my way along the beach, which, al- 
though it would increase the distance by 
five or six miles, would yet afford me a 
sound and level highway for my journey- 
ing, the sand being firm and hard when the 
water was out at low tide. 

That night I wrote a lengthy letter to 
Mr. Langely, giving him full particulars as 
to what I was about to undertake, and also 


9 


/ 


I JO The Rose of Paradise, 

instructions as to how he should proceed in 
the event of my not returning from my ad- 
venture. I also wrote my will, and settled 
all my affairs as- well as I was able. This 
took until nigh midnight. 

All this I managed to do without the 
knowledge of any one, and by the light of a 
little wick floating in a dish of oil, the flame 
of which I kept so well shaded that no one 
perceived it in all that time. 

About one o’clock I came out from my 
hut, and found the stars shining most beau- 
tifully in the sky, and all the air full of the 
noises of the night. I did not tarry, how- 
ever, but walked straight to the beach, and 
along it towards the northern end of the 
island, around which and beyond the cape 
I knew the bay to lie, about ten leagues dis- 
tant from the king’s town. 

I had only been twice upon my feet since 
the fever had left me, and found that I was 
far more weak than I had supposed myself 
to be, so that I had to rest myself at fre- 


The Rose of Paradise. ijj 

quent intervals. However, I managed to 
cover some ten miles of my journey by 
about six o’clock in the morning, by which 
time I was so exhausted that I could go 
no farther, but had to lie down under the 
shade of the bushes and rest myself for a 
long time. 

I speak of these things to show why it 
was that my journey should have occupied 
nigh upon two days, for it was not until the 
afternoon of the second day that I came 
within sight of a boat, drawn up on the 
beach, which I knew to belong to the pi- 
rates, and from which the crew had gone 
into the thickets, either to search for game 
or for water. 

I had eaten nothing all that day, for I 
had not thought that my journey would 
have taken me so long, and I did not care 
to burden myself with any more food than 
necessary. So I was glad to see the boat, 
not only being very weary, but also having 
my feet so badly blistered by the unwonted 


132 


The Rose of Paradise, 


exposure to the hot sun on the bare sand 
that it was only with pain that I could take 
a single step. 

As I drew nigh, two fellows who had been 
lying in the shade upon the further side 
sprang to their feet and hailed me. 

“Who are you.^” says one of them — a 
great black-bearded fellow with a dirty yel- 
low handkerchief tied around his head, a 
ragged scarf about his loins, a brace of pis- 
tols hanging from a leathern belt, and a 
dirty shirt opened at the breast, showing a 
hairy throat and chest. 

“ I am Captain John Mackra,” said I, and 
I sat down upon the gunwale of the boat, 
for I could go no farther. 

“ The devil you are !” says he, and he 
stared at me from top to toe as though I 
had been some strange creature the like of 
which he had never beheld before. Then, 
without another word, he put his fingers to 
his lips and gave a great, long, shrill whistle. 
I presently heard a great crackling in the 


AM CAl'TAIN JUIIN MACKRA, SAID I, AND I SAT DOWN UPON THE GUNWALE OF THE BOAT 



I 



The Rose of Paradise, ijj 

bushes and the noise of loud voices, and 
soon there burst out of the thickets six or 
eight great, bearded, dirty, villanous rascals, 
who came running down to the boat, hav- 
ing caught sight of me, and knowing me to 
be a stranger. “ It’s Captain Leach,” said the 
one of the pirates who had not yet spoken 
— a young fellow of not more than twenty. 

Some of those who had just come had 
been drinking, as could be very plainly seen 
from the way in which they acted. One of 
them was for killing me off-hand, and I veri- 
ly believe would have done so, in spite of all 
that the others could do or say, had not an- 
other of them knocked him down with an 
oar with such a blow that I thought at first 
the fellow had been killed outright. 

After that they bound me hand and foot, 
and chucked me into the stern-sheets of the 
boat along with the fellow who had been 
knocked down by the oar, and who lay with- 
out life or motion, as though neither were 
of more account than so much old junk. 


IJ4 The Rose of Paradise. 

After that they shoved off from the beach 
in the direction of my old craft the Cassan- 
dra^ which rode at anchor about a mile and 
a half or two miles away. 

The boat had hardly come alongside when 
the news of my coming ran fore and aft like 
a train of powder. They hoisted me upon 
deck and laid me just aft of the main-mast, 
whilst a great crowd gathered round me 
and stared at me, some of them grinning 
and some of them cursing me. 

Most of them were more or less in liquor, 
and it was this circumstance that came nigh 
to costing me my life, and this was how it 
happened : 

One great fellow with a dreadful scar 
across his face gave me a kick in the loins 
which I thought at first had finished me, 
and for no cause that I could see but that 
he was drunk and in a savage humor. One 
or two of them sang out to him not to kill 
me just then, but he made no answer except 
by aiming another kick at my head, which 


The Rose of Paradise. 

I warded off with my arm so that it did me 
little or no harm. He drew back his foot 
for another blow, but just then an iron be- 
laying-pin came whizzing through the air 
and struck the fellow in the jaw, knocking 
him down upon the deck as though he had 
been shot. 

I turned mine eyes and saw that it was 
Captain England himself who had struck 
the blow. 

“ Look ’ee,” says he, “ we’ll have none of 
this ; if killing is to be done, it is to be done 
lawyer-like. He’s come aboard himself, and 
if he’s to be killed he’s to be killed after his 
trial, and not before.” 

There was a moment or two of pause, for 
Captain England had drawn a brace of pis- 
tols, and held one cocked in either hand ; 
but just then up stepped a fellow who it was 
very plain to see was of some account 
amongst them, for his clothes were of rich 
stuff, and he had a gold chain with a cross 
slung around his neck, and golden ear-rings 


136 


The Rose of Paradise, 


in his ears. He walked up to England un- 
til he stood face to face with him. 

“ Look ’ee, Ned England,” says he, “ what 
I’ve got to say is this : you’re carrying 
things with too high a hand to suit us easy- 
going fellows. D’ye think you’re king or 
emperor, and that we’re nigger slaves, that 
you knock us about as it suits your humor T 

I had expected that England would have 
shot the fellow down where he stood, but 
he stayed his hand, and by the muttering 
of the rest I knew that the speaker carried 
most of them with him. 

“ Look ’ee, now,” says he, more boldly, 
“ didn’t we choose you for our captain our- 
selves And here you knock us around 
with belaying-pins as though you owned 
every man of us ; and all for what } Why, 
for giving this here precious sea-captain an 
innocent kick or two for all of the good 
fellows he’s sent to h — 11 since ten days ago. 
What I say is, hang him up to the yard- 
arm and he fetched me a terrible kick in 


The Rose of Paradise, ijy 

the side without taking his eyes from his 
captain’s face. 

At this time, although I heard what was 
said, I thought but little of what was pass- 
ing about me, my mind being beclouded 
with my weakness and my pains, for I had 
wellnigh swooned from the agony of those 
two kicks upon my flank and loins. There- 
fore I lay with mine eyes shut, feeling death- 
ly sick and faint. 

A time of silence followed, though how 
long it might be I could not exactly tell. 
Then I heard Captain England speak, the 
words coming to my ears as though from a 
great distance, because of my condition. 

“ D — n you, Burke, what do I care for the 
fellow ? If you want the man’s life, take it !” 
and I knew that he swung upon his heel 
and walked away. 


XII. 


I COULD not at that minute see that any- 
thing stood between me and death, for the 
pirates were so bent upon my immediate 
destruction that they set about getting ready 
a line to hang me up without more ado. 

Yet though I had cause to apprehend 
that the very next moment would be my 
last upon earth, the dread of death was in 
no wise keen upon me, for in my half-swoon 
I lay as one in a dream, and neither saw nor 
heard very clearly the preparations they 
were making for my destruction, and so was 
mercifully spared that pain. But God in 
His great mercy determined it otherwise 
than was the intention of these wicked men, 
for just at that moment some one forward 
began bawling out, in a great hoarse voice, 
“Where is Jack Mackra? Where is he, I 


The Rose of Paradise. ijg 

say ? Show him to me ! 

ye ! out of my way, and let me get at him !” 

As I might turn my head, I looked 
whence my voice came, and there saw, as in 
a dream, a great, tall, lantern -jawed man, 
with a patch over one eye and a crutch un- 
der his left arm. In his right hand he held 
a long sharp knife, with which he jabbed at 
those who stood in his way, so that they 
were glad enough to make room for him, 
one or two of them cursing him, the others 
grinning and laughing as though it were all 
a fine piece of sport. As those around me 
drew aside I beheld him more plainly; his 
left leg had been cut off at the knee, he was 
loose-jointed and ungainly, and he had one 
of the most villanous countenances that it 
was ever my fortune to look into. I could 
also see that he, like many of the others, 
had been drinking. It was very plain that 
he was a great favorite amongst the rest, for 
they made room for him and took all his 
curses and many blows, which he gave with 


140 The Rose of Paradise. 

his crutch, without either answering him or 
striving to defend themselves. Even the 
fellow who had spoken so boldly to the cap- 
tain’s face, and whom I afterwards found 
to be the chief of the “lords,” as they are 
pleased to call those in authority amongst 
them, grinned and stood aside as the villa- 
nous cripple came and leaned over me. 

“ D — n you,” says he, “ and is it you. Jack 
Mackra ? Then I have a score to pay you 
that has stood on the slate for this many a 
day.” 

He turned me over upon my face with 
his crutch, and the next moment I felt the 
cords that tied my hands give way, and 
knew that they had been cut, then my legs 
and feet were loosened from their lashings, 
and I was a free man. I heard the fellow 
say, “ Get up !” whereupon I stood upon 
my feet and gazed about me, though my 
brain still swam, and all things appeared 
blurred and distorted to my sight, the sky 
and the sea and the faces around me being 


The Rose of Paradise, i^i 

all strangely mingled together. Then pres- 
ently, as my confusion began to fade away 
from me, I heard the one-legged man speak- 
ing to me. 

“And do you know who I am.^” said he. 

“ No,” says I, at last gathering my wits to 
speak ; “ I cannot bring you to mind.” 

“ Why,” says he, “ don’t you remember 
Jimmy Ward, the cook aboard the Pern- 
broke Castle — him as you saved from five 
drunken Spanish devils over at Honduras 't 
Hey.f^ don’t you mind how they had me 
down under the table, jabbing at me with 
their d — d snickershees and swearing that 
they would cut the living heart out of me } 
If it hadn’t been for you, it would have been 
all over with Jimmy Ward at that time.” 
He waited for an answer, but as yet I could 
say nothing. “ Well, I haven’t forgot it if 
you have,” he continued ; “ I owe you a 
good turn, and I’ll pay it if I have to bleed 
for it.” 

Just then up steps the fellow who had 


1^2 The Rose of Paradise. 

faced England so boldly a moment or two 
before. “ Come, come, Jimmy,” says he, “ a 
joke’s a joke, and I can laugh as loud as 
any; but here’s a man has done us more 
damage than anybody we’ve fell in with 
since we ran foul of the Eagle':' 

“ Hang him up !” Hang him up !” sang 
out several of those who stood around, and 
I verily believe the business would have 
gone against me, after all, only for Captain 
England, who must have been near for all 
this time, and who came to the aid of the 
cripple. Both together, they contrived so 
to argue and talk and threaten the others 
that the end of the matter was they led me 
off to the captain’s cabin, the one on one 
side of me and the other on the other, whilst 
the crowd followed behind, though they 
came no further than the door, which was 
clapped to in their faces. 

“You’ve had a narrow miss of it,” says 
England, so soon as we were come fairly 
within and had sat down, “and you’ve no- 


The Rose of Paradise, 14J 

body to thank for it but yourself, for if you’d 
minded what I told you you’d have staid 
where you were and let your bad luck sail 
her own craft without putting your hand to 
the helm. Even yet I don’t know if we’ll 
be able to get you off, for Tom Burke is 
hot for your blood, and will get it if he’s 
able.” 

“ That he will,” says Ward; “for he’s not 
the man to give up what he’s laid his hand 
to.” 

“ Have you had anything to eat V' said 
England, presently. 

“ Not since five o’clock this morning,” 
said I. 

“ Why,” said he, “ you’ll have to be fed, 
whether they hang you or no.” Whereupon 
he fetched out from a locker a great lot of 
biscuit and a decanter of the very port-wine 
with which I had entertained Mr. Long- 
ways when he came aboard the Cassandra 
with The Rose of Paradise ; nor have I ever 
tasted food that was more refreshing than 


The Rose of Paradise. 

that which I then ate, for I was well nigh 
exhausted with hunger. 

No one spoke for a while, and England 
walked up and down the cabin with his 
hands clasped behind his back. During all 
this time I had been looking around me, 
and of a sudden my heart seemed to leap 
into my throat, for in the corner of the 
cabin, lying amongst a lot of litter, where it 
seemed to have been flung as of no account, 
I saw the iron despatch-box. 

My danger had been so great and my 
mind in such a maze for all this time that 
there had been no room in my brain for 
other matters, the very objects of my ad- 
venture having been forgotten for a while ; 
but with the sight of this everything came 
back to me with a rush, and I wondered for 
the first time that I had not yet seen my 
betrayer. 

“ Where is Captain Leach T said I to 
England. 

He stopped short in his walk, and re- 


H5 


The Rose of Paradise. 

garded me with a very strange expression, 
which at the time I could in no wise under- 
stand. 

“ Why,” says he, presently, “ he was shot 
— shot by accident — when we first came 
aboard of this here craft after you left 
her.” 

I sat silent for a great long time after 
this, nor could I think of one word to say, 
for of all the things which my mind had 
forecasted, this was the very furthest from 
my imaginings. So I sat staring at the pi- 
rate captain, who, upon his part, sat gazing 
back again at me, answering my look with 
a grin. I had been well assured that Cap- 
tain Leach had stolen the jewel, but was it 
possible that I had misjudged him in sus- 
pecting that he had betrayed us to the pi- 
rates, and that they, finding him alive upon 
the vessel, whence he had not had sufficient 
time to escape, had thereupon instantly mur- 
thered him, as is their custom upon such 
occasions ? 

lO 


1^6 The Rose of Paradise, 

“ And tell me this,” said I at last, “ was it 
through Captain Leach’s machinations that 
w'e were betrayed into your hands ?” 

“ Why,” says he, “ I may tell you plain, if 
I had never met Captain Leach I should 
never have ventured into this harbor in the 
face of three armed vessels lying across the 
channel.” 

“ Then I was not mistaken,” said I. But 
I dared ask no more questions, lest the pi- 
rate captain’s suspicions should be aroused, 
for, from the appearance of the despatch- 
box, which did not yet seem to have been 
tampered with, but rather held as of no ac- 
count whatever, I did not believe that Cap- 
tain Leach had betrayed the presence of 
the jewel to the pirate, but rather had re- 
served the secret for his own advantage, 
which, indeed, was the most likely supposi- 
tion that could be imagined. If now I could 
but by some means or other contrive to find 
opportunity to examine the box, I could 
very speedily tell whether the lock had been 


The Rose of Paradise. 14^ 

forced ; which would, in my estimation, de- 
cide whether or not the jewel was still safe 
and undiscovered. 

Presently Ward spoke. “ And how,” said 
he, “ did you come to get into such a pickle 
as I found you, sir?” 

I told him the main reason for my visit 
in as few words and with as little circumlo- 
cution as possible ; how I had entertained 
hopes of procuring a promise of safety for 
my passengers and ship’s crew, and even 
possibly of obtaining some means of trans- 
portation from the place where they now 
were to one of greater ease and security. 
Both men listened without a word to what 
I said, and when I had ended Ward pursed 
his mouth up in a most comical fashion, 
and gave a great long whistle, half under 
his breath, regarding me the while with his 
one eye as round as a saucer. 

“ And do you mean to say,” says he, “ that 
you, a sick man, have gone and travelled 
ten leagues all for to give yourself up to 


I/J.8 The Rose of Paradise, 

such a gang of bloody cutthroats as we 
be?” 

“ Why, yes,” says I ; “ sure ten leagues is 
not such a long journey that one need make 
much of a stir about it.” 

“ Ten leagues be blowed !” says he. “ Sup- 
pose they had shot you dead when they had 
found out who you were ; what then ?” 

“ But they did not shoot me,” said I. 

“ But perhaps they may kill you yet,” put 
in England. 

“ That matter is neither in your hands 
nor mine,” said I. 

Ward looked in a very droll manner, first 
at England and then at me. “ Well, I’m 
blowed !” he said at last. 

At this Captain England burst into a 
great loud laugh. “ Why,” says he, “ it 
would be a vast pity to let a man of such 
spirit lose his life after all. What d’ye say. 
Ward?” 

“ I say yes,” said Ward, and he thumped 
his fist down on the table; “and by the 


The Rose of Paradise, 

Eternal he shall get what he wants — in rea- 
son — Tom Burke and the devil notwith- 
standing !” 

“Come,” says England; “come, Ward, 
we’ll go and fetch Burke in, and see if we 
can’t drink him into a good humor.” And 
so saying both men went out of the cabin, 
shutting the door behind them. As soon 
as their backs were turned I sprang to 
where the despatch-box lay, snatched it up, 
and began eagerly examining it. It was 
still securely locked; the lid had not been 
forced, and I could see no marks of violence 
upon it. But I had just then but short time 
for such an examination, for in a little while 
I heard footsteps outside, whereupon I re- 
placed the box where I had found it and 
resumed my chair, composing my counte- 
nance as far as I was able to do. Presently 
I heard voices at the door, and from their 
tones I could gather that Captain England 
and the crippled cook were trying to per- 
suade Burke to come into the cabin, he be- 


1^0 The Rose of Paradise, 

ing mightily unwilling to do so. For a 
while they held the door ajar, and I could 
hear Burke cursing and swearing at a great 
rate, and calling Heaven to witness that he 
would have my life before he was done with 
me. Meantime the others were busied in 
talking to him, and soothing him, and rea- 
soning with him, but all to no purpose. 
No ; he would come in and drink a glass of 
grog with them, if that was what they were 
after, but he would have my life — yes, he 
would; and he was not to be wheedled out 
of his purpose by soft words either. So 
they, after a while, all came into the cabin 
and sat down to the table, though Burke 
never so much as turned his eyes in my 
direction. 

Captain England brought out a bottle of 
Jamaica, which he set upon the board, and 
each of the three pirates mixed himself a 
glass of grog. Burke drank three or four 
glasses of the stuff without its seeming in 
the least to smooth his ill -temper. The 


The Rose of Paradise. 75/ 

cripple kept pace with him in his drinking, 
at which I was mightily anxious, for when 
such bloody wretches as they become heated 
with liquor, it is a toss of a farthing whether 
they murder a man in their sport or lav- 
ish caresses upon him. However, I was 
glad to see that Captain England drank 
but sparingly, wherefore I entertained great 
hopes that he would remain sufficiently cool 
to prevent any violence being used against 
me. 

But I greatly doubt that my life would 
have been in danger under any circum- 
stances, for after a while, as Burke became 
more warmed in his cups, his displeasure 
against me became more and more softened. 
At first, without speaking directly to me, 
he began, with many imprecations upon his 
own head, to say that though he was a 
bloody sea-pirate, and a murderer, and a 
thief, he knew a man of courage when he 
saw him, and loved him as his brother. By- 
and-by he insisted upon shaking hands with 


1^2 The Rose of Paradise, 

me across the table, swearing that if harm 
had happened to me through him he would 
have repented it to the very last day of his 
life. I how perceived that the time had 
come for me to act; accordingly I began, 
first by hints and afterwards by direct ap- 
peals, to beseech them that they would give 
me the smaller of their two crafts, which 
had been so injured in the late engagement 
that it was still lying upon the beach where 
they had run it aground, and from which 
position they had made no efforts to rescue 
it. I had noticed the craft as I came down 
the beach, and though I observed that she 
had been very much shattered by the broad- 
sides which we had fired into her, I yet had 
hopes that if I could get possession of her 
I might be able to patch her up sufficient- 
ly to transport my passengers and crew to 
some place of greater security than the isl- 
and offered, even perhaps to Bombay, weath- 
er permitting. I had thought that the pi- 
rates would have made some objection, and I 


The Rose of Paradise. ijj 

believe that even England himself was star- 
tled at the boldness of my request, for he 
looked anxiously at the others, but ventured 
nothing. However, I think that that very 
boldness recommended itself to these reck- 
less spirits, for they granted what I desired 
with hardly a word of objection. Embold- 
ened by this, I went still further, and be- 
sought them to give me back some of the 
cargo which they had captured along with 
the Cassandra. 

At this, though he said nothing. Captain 
England grinned as though vastly amused. 
Nor was I wrong in venturing such a seem- 
ingly foolhardy request, for not only did 
they promise to give me back one hundred 
and twenty -nine bales of the Company’s 
goods, but also gave me a written agree- 
ment to that effect, which they each of them 
signed. Captain England first of all. 

I may say here that though it might seem 
absurd to set any value upon a mere writ- 
ten agreement signed by such bloody and 


1^4 of Paradise, 

lawless men, it was really of very great mo- 
ment, for these fellows have a vast respect 
and regard for any instrument to which 
they set their hand, wherefore I knew that 
the chances were many to one that they 
would do as they promised, after once hav- 
ing superscribed to it. 

Then, with my heart beating so that I 
could hardly speak, I turned to Captain 
England. “ And you, sir,” said I, “ will you 
grant me one small favor 

“ That depends upon what it is,” says he. 

I looked at him steadily for a moment or 
two whilst I was collecting myself ; then I 
spoke with all the coolness I could com- 
mand, although I felt that I could scarcely 
forbear trembling at this trying moment. 
“ Why, sir,” says I, “ if my despatches are 
lost, I can make but a poor sort of a report 
to the Honorable Company.” 

“ Well, John Mackra, and how can I help 
you in that said he, very coolly. 

“ Easily enough,” said I. “ Yonder is my 


The Rose of Paradise, 755 

despatch-box in the corner, which can be of 
but little use to you, and yet it is of great 
import to me.” 

“And you want it?” says he. 

“ Indeed yes,” said I, “ though of course 
that is as you please.” 

He regarded me for a while in silence, 
his head upon one side, and his face twist- 
ed up into a most droll, quizzical, cunning 
expression, of which I could make nothing 
whatever. 

“ And is that all that you want of me ?” 
said he. 

I nodded my head, for I could not trust 
myself to speak. 

Upon this he burst suddenly into a great 
loud laugh, and gave the table a thump 
with his fist which made the glasses jingle. 
I sat regarding him, not knowing what to 
make of it all ; but his next words were a 
vast relief to me. 

“ Why,” says he, “ I thought you were 
going to ask me for something of some ac- 


1^6 The Rose of Paradise. 

count. If that is all you want, it is yours, 
and welcome to it.” 

Finding all three of the pirates to be in 
such a complacent mood, I asked them for 
some of my clothes, for those that I had 
hung in tatters about me, and, as said be- 
fore, I was in my bare feet. But this they 
would not do. Master Burke asking me 
whether they had not granted enough al- 
ready, without giving me togs to cover my 
bloody carcass. Upon this I perceived that 
I had gotten all that I was likely to obtain, 
and so had to go without my clothes. 

The pirates were for keeping me on board 
all night, that they might, as they were 
pleased to say, entertain me in a decent 
fashion. But I, having gained possession 
of the precious despatch-box, and trembling 
with anxiety lest by some sudden shift of 
luck it should be taken away from me again, 
was most eagerly anxious to take myself 
away. England himself urged my depart- 
ure. So about seven o’clock I was put 


^57 


The Rose of Paradise, 

ashore, with the despatch-box in my posses- 
sion, giving thanks that I had come off from 
my adventure with such exceeding good 
fortune, for I felt that I had not only re- 
covered the most precious prize of all, but 
England had promised to do his uttermost 
to hold the others to their written agree- 
ment, saying that if he were successful he 
would depart in two days, leaving the bales 
of goods behind upon the shore. 


XIII. 

England himself chose a crew to row 
me across the beach, and I have no doubt 
selected the least reprehensible of all the 
gang; for although they said little to me, 
they showed no disposition either to be in- 
solent or to offer violence to me ; one of 
them even took off his jacket and laid it in 
the stern-sheets for me to sit upon. And 
truly, in spite of their wicked ways, there is 
not so much difference betwixt some of 
these fellows and the common sailors in our 
merchant service, excepting that the poor 
wretches have been led astray by evil coun- 
sel until they have broken the laws and com- 
mitted outrages upon the high-seas, and so 
are become outlawed and desperate. More- 
over, I believe there are many of them who 
would return to better ways had they oppor- 


159 


The Rose of Paradise. 

tunity of so doing, and were not afraid of 
suffering for the evil things which they 
have committed. 

But at that time I thought little or noth- 
ing of how they regarded me, my only de- 
sire being to get ashore, that I might hide 
the precious despatch-box in some place of 
safety. This I did as soon as might be af- 
ter I had landed, burying the casket in the 
sand, and marking the place so that I might 
know it again. 

Some little distance beyond where I had 
been put ashore from the pirate boat I 
came upon a party of my own men under 
Mr. White, who had been despatched after 
me by Mr. Langely so soon as he had read 
the communication which I had left behind 
me at the king’s town, and who had for 
some time been lying hidden in the thick- 
ets, whence they might observe the pirates 
and still remain unseen by them. 

I may confess that I was mightily glad 
to behold such kind and friendly faces 


i6o The Rose of Paradise. 

again, nor did they seem less rejoiced than 
myself at the meeting. They would not 
allow me to walk, but making a litter of 
two saplings, bore me by turns upon the 
way, so that against the morning had come 
we were safe in the king’s town once more. 

Mr. Longways was among the first to visit 
me, and betrayed the most lively signs of 
joy upon finding that I had been fortunate 
enough to secure the great ruby once more, 
though he regretted that I had not fetched 
the box with me instead of having buried it 
in the sand, so that we might have assured 
ourselves of the safety of the treasure. 
Upon this point I put him at his ease by 
convincing him that the box was in such a 
condition and of such an appearance as to 
make me feel certain that it had neither 
been forced nor the lock tampered with. 

We only remained in the king’s town 
about three days longer ; at the end of that 
time the lookout which we had placed at 
the cape came in and reported that the pi- 


The Rose of Paradise, i6i 

rate crafts had hoisted sail and borne away 
to the southward, leaving behind them the 
battered hulk of the smallest vessel, as they 
had promised to do. This much many had 
expected of them, but I doubt if any except- 
ing myself had ventured to hope that they 
would fulfil the other part of the agreement 
to which they had superscribed, viz., to leave 
behind them the bales of goods which in 
their half -drunken fit of generosity they 
had promised. Yet there they were, neatly 
stacked upon the beach, and even covered 
with a tarpaulin. And I know not whether 
it may be merely superstition upon their 
part or no, but this much I have frequently 
observed, that sailors of whatever condition 
have such a vast regard and respect for any 
paper or written document that they will 
go to great extremity before they will do 
aught to rupture or disobey the articles of 
such a bond. So it was that I was not so 
much surprised at this fulfilment as either 
Mr. Langely or Mr. White. 

1 1 


i 62 


The Rose of Paradise. 

By this time I was sufficiently recovered 
of my fever and of my wound to take upon 
me the direction of affairs once more ; ac- 
cordingly, in the space of two weeks, we 
had so far patched up the battered hulk of 
the pirate craft as to make her tolerably 
sea -worthy, provided we encountered no 
great stress of weather. 

It took us about a week longer to victual 
and water the vessel (the bales of goods 
which I had begged from the pirates hav- 
ing been already stowed away under cover), 
so that it was not until the i8th of August 
that we were able to leave the country — 
which we did, giving thanks for all the mer- 
cies that had been vouchsafed to us in this 
trying and terrible time. 

We were becalmed off the coast of Ara- 
bia, where we suffered greatly from the 
scarcity of water ; but being brought safely 
through that and other dangers, we arrived 
at last at Bombay, where we dropped anchor 
early in the afternoon of the 1 3th of Octo- 


The Rose of Paradise, i 6 j 

ber, it being nigh upon two months since we 
had left the coast of Juanna. 

I immediately sent a message to the Gov- 
ernor, Mr. Boon, notifying him of the safe 
arrival of Mistress Pamela, and that I was 
now ready to deliver the despatch -box at 
such time as he should choose to appoint. 
I also forwarded to him by the messenger a 
full report of all that had happened, and of 
the loss of the Cassandra in the engagement 
on the 23d of July. 

In about an hour and a half Mr. Boon 
came aboard. He spoke most kindly and 
flatteringly of the service which he was 
pleased to say I had rendered the Compa- 
ny. He urged me to accompany him to the 
shore, but though I was mightily inclined 
to accept of his kindness, I was forced to 
decline at that time ; for, finding that the 
Company’s ship, the City of London^ was 
about ready to sail, I had determined to 
send by her a brief account of the things 
herein narrated, and was at that moment 


164 The Rose of Paradise, 

engaged in writing the letter which was 
afterwards so widely published both in the 
newspapers and in Captain Johnson’s book 
relating to the lives of the nine famous pi- 
rate captains. Finding that I could not just 
then quit the ship, he insisted that I should 
sup with them that very night. I was only 
too glad to accept of this, for I had deter- 
mined that I would discover in what man- 
ner of regard Mistress Pamela held me, and 
that without loss of time. I had now every 
right to offer my addresses to her, which I 
had not had heretofore. Accordingly, hav- 
ing delivered the despatch -box into Mr. 
Boon’s hands with feelings of the most sin- 
cere and heart-felt relief, and having obtain- 
ed his receipt for the same, I escorted Mis- 
tress Pamela to the Governor’s boat, thence 
returning to my own cabin feeling strangely 
lonely and melancholic. 

This was about half-past two o’clock in 
the afternoon; at about four a small boat 
came alongside, and a young man of some 


The Rose of Paradise, i6^ 

twenty-three years of age stepped upon the 
deck, who introduced himself as Mr. Whit- 
comb, the Governor’s secretary. H e brought 
a written message from the Governor re- 
questing my immediate presence at the 
Residency upon a matter of the very first 
importance. I turned to Mr. Whitcomb and 
asked if he knew what was the nature of the 
business the Governor would have with me. 

He said no, but that the Governor and 
Mr. Elliott, the Company’s agent, had been 
closeted together with Mr. McFarland and 
Mr. Hansel, of the banking-house, for some 
time, and then had sent this message to me 
by him, which was plainly one of very great 
consequence. 

I immediately entered the boat with the 
secretary, and was rowed to the shore, where, 
when we had come to the Residency, I found 
the four gentlemen waiting for me. They 
were seated around a table, whereon was the 
despatch-box and my written report, which 
consumed some six or eight sheets of paper. 


i66 The Rose of Paradise, 

The Governor invited me to be seated, 
which I had hardly done when one of the 
company, whom I afterwards found to be 
Mr. Elliott, began questioning me. I an- 
sw^ered fully to everything he asked, the 
others listening, and now and then putting 
in a word, or asking for fuller particulars 
upon some point or other which was per- 
haps more obscure. When I came to the 
part that related to Captain Leach I saw 
them glance at one another in a very pe- 
culiar way; but I continued without stop- 
ping until I had told everything concerning 
the matter from the beginning to the end. 
No one said anything for a little time, until 
at last Mr. Elliott spoke : 

“ Do I correctly understand from this re- 
port,” says he, touching the papers which 
lay upon the table as he spoke, “ that Mr. 
Longw^ays betrayed the nature of the con- 
tents of the despatch-box both to you and 
to Captain Leach ?” 

“ Yes, sir,” said I. 


The Rose of Paradise, i6j 

“And you are sure that no one knew 
of the presence of the jewel but you and 
he ?" 

“ Yes, sir,” said I, again. 

At this the gentlemen exchanged glances, 
and Mr. Elliott continued his questioning. 

“And did you not know that Captain 
Leach had been left behind when you quit- 
ted the Cassandra 

“ Why, no, sir,” said I. “ It was intended 
that he should go in the first passage of the 
long-boat with the boatswain.” 

“ But did you not say that you helped the 
women aboard of the long-boat C 

“Yes, sir, I did,” I said. 

There was a pause of a moment or two, 
and all sat regarding me. Presently Mr. 
Elliott spoke again. 

“And did you not then see that Cap- 
tain Leach was absent from the boat C said 
he. 

“No, sir,” said I, “I did not; the boat 
was very full, and the air so thick with gun- 


i68 


The Rose of Paradise. 


powder smoke that I could see little or 
nothing at any distance.” 

“ But did you not then take care to see 
that all your passengers were safe aboard ?” 

“ Why, no, sir,” said I. “ The order had 
been passed for all passengers to go aboard 
the long-boat, and I supposed that Captain 
Leach had obeyed with the rest. I was so 
occupied with the safety of the women just 
then that I thought of nothing else.” 

“You say that the pirate England told 
you that Captain Leach had been killed 
when they first came aboard the Cassandra. 
Did you take any other evidence in the 
matter than his word ?” 

“ Why, no, sir,” said I, “ I did not.’ 

Mr. Elliott said “Humph!” and another 
short space of silence followed, during which 
he played absently with the leaves of my 
report. 

“ But tell me. Captain Mackra,” said he, 
presently, “ did you not speak to any one of 
your suspicions concerning Captain Leach 


The Rose of Paradise, i6g 

after he had quitted the ship on the night 
of the 2 ist in such a mysterious man- 
ner ?” 

“ Why, no, sir,” said I ; “ for I saw no suf- 
ficient grounds to accuse him of any under- 
hand practices.” 

“And yet,” said a thin, middle-aged gen- 
tleman, with a sharp voice, whom I after- 
wards found to be Mr. McFarland — “ and 
yet you saw him quit the Cassandra in a 
most suspicious manner, and under the most 
suspicious circumstances, and also had rea- 
son to suspect him of having knowledge of 
the jewel. Why, then, did you not examine 
him publicly or put him under arrest after 
he returned T 

“ Sir,” said I, “ I disliked Captain Leach, 
and feared that my prejudice might lead me 
astray.” 

“ But, Captain Mackra,” said the Govern- 
or, “ your personal feelings should never in- 
terfere with your duty.” 

I knew not where all these matters tend- 


lyo The Rose of Paradise, 

ed, but I began to be mightily troubled in 
my mind concerning them. However, I had 
little time for thought, for Mr. Elliott began 
questioning me again. He asked me if I 
had told any one of my intended visit to the 
pirate-ship, of whom I had seen there, and 
of what inducements I had offered to per- 
suade them to give me one of their crafts 
and return such a quantity of the Compa- 
ny’s goods. He cross - questioned me so 
keenly in regard to the last point that I 
found myself tripping more than once, for 
it is mightily difficult to remember all of 
the petty details even of such an important 
event as that. I believe that I answered 
more loosely than I otherwise would have 
done from the agitation into which I was 
cast by the serious shape which matters 
seemed to be taking. 

“ Sir,” I cried to Mr. Elliott, “ do you 
blame me for getting back so much of the 
Company’s goods as I was able ?” 

“ I blame you for nothing. Captain Mac- 


The Rose of Paradise. /// 

kra,” said he. “ I merely question you in 
regard to a matter of great importance.” 

“ But, sir,” I said, hotly, “ am I to be 
blamed for losing my ship after a hard- 
fought battle.^ You should recollect, sir, 
that I was wounded in the Company’s serv- 
ice ; methinks, sir, that should weigh some 
in my favor.” 

“ But, Captain Mackra,” said Mr. McFar- 
land, very seriously, “ are not accidents 
likely to happen to any one under any 
circumstances? Captain Leach, you may 
remember, was killed in spite of all the pre- 
cautions he may have taken to preserve his 
life.” 

A great weight of dread seemed to have 
been settling upon me as the examination 
had progressed, but at these words it was 
as though a sudden light flashed upon me ; 
I rose slowly from my chair, and stood with 
my hand leaning upon the table. For a 
moment or two my head swam with vertigo, 
and I passed my hand across my forehead. 


iy2 The Rose of Paradise. 

“ I am not so well, gentlemen,” said I, “ as I 
was some time since, for I have gone through 
many hardships ; therefore I beseech you 
to excuse me if I have appeared weak in 
the manner or the matter of my discourse.” 
Then turning to the Governor, “ Will you 
be pleased to tell me, sir, what all this 
means ?” 

“ Sir,” said he, in a low tone, “ the ruby 
has been stolen, and was not in the box 
when you gave it to me.” 

I stood looking around at them for a 
while ; I know that I must have been very 
pale, for Mr. McFarland sprang to his feet. 

“ Captain Mackra, you are ill,” he said ; 
“ will you not be seated .^” 

I shook my head impatiently, and collect- 
ing myself, I said, very slowly and somewhat 
unsteadily, “ Do you suspect me of being in- 
strumental in taking it Y' 

No one answered for an instant. Then 
the Governor said, “No, Captain Mackra, 
we suspect you of nothing ; only it is best 


ROSE SLOWLY FROM MY CHAIR, AND STOOD WITH MY HAND LEANING UPON THE TABLE 







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The Rose of Paradise, lyj 

that you should return to England and 
make your report to the Company in per- 
son. Meanwhile you will make no effort 
to leave this country until I find means to 
secure your passage for you.” 

“ I am to consider myself under arrest V* 
said I. 

“ No, sir,” said the Governor, kindly, “ not 
under arrest; but you must hold yourself 
prepared to stand your examination before 
the proper agents of the Company at Lon- 
don, and at such time as they may decide 
upon.” 


XIV. 


So soon as I had left the Residency I 
went straight aboard my craft. I entered 
my cabin, locked the door, and began pac- 
ing up and down, striving to collect my 
thoughts and to shape them into some sort 
of order. At first I was possessed with a 
most ungovernable fury — that I, who had 
suffered so much, who had fought till I 
could fight no more, and who had freely 
risked my life in the Company’s cause, 
should now be accused of stealing that very 
thing that had cost me such suffering and 
so great a weight of trouble. But by-and- 
by the ferment of my spirits began some- 
what to subside, and I could look matters 
more coolly in the face. Then, instead of 
anger, I became consumed with anxiety, for 
I began, little by little, to perceive what a 


The Rose of Paradise, 775 

dreadful cloud of suspicion overshadowed 
me. I had acted to the best of my light 
in not accusing Captain Leach of what I 
feared might be unfounded suspicions bred 
of my dislike of his person. Now all men 
would think that I was leagued with him in 
robbing the Company of the great ruby. In 
return for my forbearance in not making a 
public accusation against him, he had be- 
trayed me and all that were aboard the Cas- 
sa 7 idra, and now every one would believe 
that I had aided him in that as in the rest. 
He had remained behind in the hopes of 
joining the pirates, and so securing himself 
in the possession of his booty. Instead of 
accomplishing this, he had perished miser- 
ably on board of that craft, wet with the 
blood of those whom he had betrayed ; but 
as for me, how could I ever disprove the 
horrid charge that I had deserted my con- 
federate in guilt, leaving him to his death, 
so that I might gain all for myself. The 
very fact of my taking my life into my hands. 


The Rose of Paradise. 


iy6 

and going so freely among those wicked 
and bloody wretches, instead of weighing in 
my favor, would seem to point to some sort 
of bargain with them whereby I was the 
gainer; for who would believe that they 
would voluntarily have resigned so great a 
part of those things which they had a short 
time before torn away from us at the cost 
of so much blood? Even the fact of my 
having so carefully guarded the secret of 
the stone might be twisted into sinister sus- 
picions against me. 

As for those bright hopes that I had but 
lately entertained, how could I now raise 
my eyes towards Mistress Pamela, or how 
could I look for anything, who was stained 
with such dreadful suspicions, without pros- 
pect of being cleansed from them ? 

Perceiving all these things so clearly, I 
resigned myself to the depths of gloomy 
despair, for the more I bent my mind upon 
these matters the less did I see my way 
clear from my entanglements. I sat long 


The Rose of Paradise. lyy 

into the night, thinking and thinking, until 
the temptation came upon me to shoot out 
my brains, and be quit of all my troubles in 
that sudden manner. In this extremity I 
flung myself upon my knees and prayed 
most fervently, and after a while was more 
at peace, though with no clearer knowledge 
as to how I might better my condition. So 
I went to my berth, where I was presently 
sound asleep, with all my troubles forgot. 

A day or two after these things had be- 
fallen comes one of the Company’s clerks 
aboard, with an order from Mr. Elliott re- 
lieving me of my command, and appointing 
Mr. Langely in my stead. This appoint- 
ment Mr. Langely would have refused had 
I not urged him to accept of it, seeing he 
could better settle the affairs of which he 
would be in charge than one who would 
come aboard a stranger. Accordingly he 
consented to do as I advised, though pro- 
testing against it most earnestly. 

About two weeks after our arrival at Bom- 


lyS The Rose of Paradise, 

bay the Governor notified me that the Com- 
pany’s ship Lavinia was about quitting her 
anchorage, and that he had secured a berth 
to England in her for me. I was very well 
pleased that the Governor had hit upon this 
one ship of all others in the Company’s 
service, for her commander, Captain Croker, 
was an old and well-tried friend of mine, 
and one with whom it would be more pleas- 
ing to be consociated at a time of such ex- 
treme ill fortune as I was then suffering 
under. I went aboard her at once, and was 
most kindly received by Captain Croker, 
whom I found had had a very comfortable 
berth fitted up for me, and had arranged all 
things to make my voyage as pleasant as 
possible. 

The day after I came aboard, wind and 
tide being fair, and Captain Croker having 
received his orders, we hoisted anchor and 
sailed out of the harbor, and by four o’clock 
had dropped the land astern. 

During the first part of that voyage, be- 


The Rose of Paradise. //p 

fore I had contrived to leave the Lavinia, of 
which I shall hereafter tell, my mind was 
constantly and continually filled with my 
troubles, so that they were the first thing 
which I remembered in the morning, and 
the last thing which I forgot before I fell 
asleep. But that which puzzled me more 
than anything else was to account for the 
mysterious manner in which the Rose of 
Paradise had been spirited away from the 
iron despatch-box, and what had become of 
it after it had passed from Mr. White’s pos- 
session. Of this I thought and pondered 
until my brain grew weary. 

One night, we being at that time becalm- 
ed off the Gulf of Arabia, I sat upon the 
poop-deck looking out over the water and 
into the sky, dusted all over with an infinite 
quantity of stars, and with my mind still 
moving upon the same old track which it 
had so often travelled before. I know not 
whether it was the refreshing silence which 
reigned all about me, but of a sudden it 


i8o The Rose of Paradise, 

seemed as though the uncertainties which 
had beset my mind were removed, and the 
whole matter stood before me with a most 
marvellous clearness. Then I knew, as 
plain as though it had been revealed to me, 
that the only man in the world who either 
had the Rose of Paradise in his possession, 
or knew where it was hidden, was Captain 
Edward England. 

I do not think that I came to this con- 
clusion through any line of reasoning, but 
rather with a sudden leap of thought ; but 
as soon as I had fairly grasped it I mar- 
velled at the dulness of my understanding, 
which should have prevented my perceiv- 
ing it before; for every single circumstance 
that had happened pointed but in one di- 
rection, and that was towards the end which 
I had but just reached. 

It was as plain as the light of day that 
when Captain Leach went aboard of the 
pirate craft on the night of the 21st of July, 
Captain England would require him to ex- 


The Rose of Paradise. i8i 

plain his object in betraying the Cassa^idra 
into their hands ; and it was equally plain 
that Leach would have to tell the truth ; for 
it was not likely that he could deceive such 
a sharp and cunning blade as that famous 
freebooter. I recalled the strange look 
which Captain England had given me when 
he told me that Captain Leach had been 
“ shot by accident ” upon their coming 
aboard the Cassajidra ; whereupon, regard- 
ing matters from my present stand-point, I 
felt assured that England had killed Leach 
with his own hand, so that with him the se- 
cret of the stone might perish from amongst 
them. I also felt convinced that he must, 
with great care and circumspection, have 
picked the lock of the despatch -box and 
have despoiled it of its contents, which he 
had kept for himself without informing any 
of his shipmates of what he had found. 

I could not at first account for the treat- 
ment that I had met with at the pirates’ 
hands, nor why I had not been shot so soon 


j 82 


The Rose of Paradise, 


as I had stepped upon their decks, for it was 
plain to see that that would be the easiest 
and quickest way for Captain England to 
rid himself of me ; yet it was very apparent 
to me that he desired that my life should 
be saved, and was even inclined to show me 
some kindness after his own fashion ; and I 
do verily believe that that wicked and bloody 
man entertained a sincere regard for my 
person, and had it in his mind to do me a 
good turn ; for even the very worst of men 
have some seed of kindness in them, other- 
wise they could not be of our human broth- 
erhood, but wild beasts, thinking only of 
rending and tearing one another. 

But I could easily perceive that so soon 
as England felt assured of my coming 
aboard of his craft, he would strive to mis- 
lead me into thinking that he knew nothing 
of the stone, lest by some inadvertent word 
I should betray a knowledge of it to the 
others, and he would have to share his spoil 
with them. Therefore he would carefully 


The Rose of Paradise. i8j 

lock the box again, and would toss it in the 
corner to lead me to think he knew nothing 
of the contents. 

All this train of reasoning I followed out 
in my mind, and when I recalled the quiz- 
zical, cunning look which the rogue had 
given me when I asked for the despatch- 
box, I felt certainly assured that I was right. 

I remember that when I had clearly cogi- 
tated all this out in my own mind I felt as 
though one step had been gained towards 
the recovery of the stone, and for an instant 
it seemed as though a great part of the 
weight of despondency had been lifted from 
my breast. But the next moment it settled 
upon me again when I brought to mind that 
I was as far as ever from regaining the jew- 
el ; for I knew not where the pirates then 
were, and even if I did know, and was vent- 
uresome enough to face their captain a sec- 
ond time, it was not likely that he would be 
so complacent as to give back such a great 
treasure for the mere asking. 


j 84 The Rose of Paradise, 

Nor do I think it likely that I would ever 
have gained anything by this knowledge 
which had come to me (unless I might have 
used it to help my case with the East India 
Company) had not Providence seen fit to 
send me help in a most strange and unex- 
pected manner. And thus it was : 

One morning when I came upon deck I 
saw several of the passengers, together with 
the captain and the first mate, standing at 
the lee side of the ship and looking out for- 
ward, Captain Croker with a glass to his eye. 
Upon inquiring they told me that the look- 
out had some little time before sighted a 
small open boat, which had been signalling 
the ship with what they were now able to 
make out was a shirt tied to the blade of an 
oar. We ran down to the boat, which we 
reached in twenty or thirty minutes, and 
then hove to, and it came alongside. 

There were three men in her, who seemed 
to be in a mightily good condition for cast- 
aways in an open boat. 


The Rose of Paradise, i8^ 

I stood looking down into it along with 
other of the passengers, watching the men 
as they took in their oars and laid them 
along the thwarts. Just then one of the 
fellows raised his face and looked up ; and 
when I saw him I could not forbear a sud- 
den exclamation of amazement. I remem- 
ber one of my fellow-passengers, a Mr. Wil- 
son, who stood next to me, asked me what 
was the matter. I made some excuse or 
other that was of little consequence, but 
the truth was that I recognized the fellow 
as that very pirate who had first kicked me 
in the loins when I lay bound upon the 
deck of the Cassandra^ and whom Captain 
England had knocked down with the iron 
belaying-pin. 

However, the fellow did not recognize me, 
for I was a very different object now than 
when he had seen me lying upon the pirate 
deck, pinched with my sickness, barefoot 
and half naked, and my cheeks and chin 
covered over with a week’s growth of beard. 


i86 


The Rose of Paradise. 


The three fellows presently came aboard, 
and were brought aft to the quarter-deck, 
where Captain Croker stood, just below the 
rail of the deck above. They told a very 
straightforward story, and I could not help 
admiring at their coolness and the clever 
way in which they passed it off. They said 
that they had been part of the crew of the 
brigantine Ormond, which had been lost 
in a storm about a hundred and twenty 
leagues north of the island of Madagascar. 
That the captain and six of the crew had 
taken the long-boat, and that they had 
become separated from her in the dark- 
ness two nights before. They answered all 
of Captain Croker’s questions in a very 
straightforward manner, and with all the 
appearance of truth. After satisfying him- 
self, he told them that they might go below 
and get something to eat, and that he would 
carry them to England as a part of the 
ship’s crew. 

At first I was inclined to tell the real 


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The Rose of Paradise, i8y 

truth concerning them to Captain Croker, 
but on second thoughts I determined to see 
what the fellows had to say for themselves ; 
for I only recognized one of them, and, after 
all, their story might be true, and that one 
have given up his wicked trade in the four 
or five months since I had last seen him. 

About an hour after this I saw my friend 
the pirate engaged forward in coiling a rope. 
I came to him and watched him for a while, 
but he kept steadily on with what he was 
about, and said nothing to me. 

“Well, sir,” said I, after a bit, “and how 
was Captain England when you saw him 
last.^^” 

The fellow started up as suddenly as 
though the rope had changed to an adder 
in his hands. He looked about him as 
though to see if any one were near and had 
overheard what I said to him, and then re- 
covered himself with amazing quickness. 
He grinned in a simple manner, and chuck- 
ed his thumb up to his forelock. “What 


i88 


The Rose of Paradise. 


was it you were saying, sir ?” says he. “ I 
didn’t just understand you.” 

“ Come, come,” said I ; “ that will never 
pass amongst old friends. Why, don’t you 
remember me T 

He looked at me in a mightily puzzled 
fashion for a while. “ No, sir ; asking your 
pardon, sir,” said he, “ I don’t remember 
you.” 

“What !” said I, “have you forgot Captain 
Mackra, and how you gave him a kick in 
the side when he lay on the deck of the 
Cassandra, down off Juanna.f^” As the fel- 
low looked at me I saw him change from 
red to yellow and from yellow to blue ; his 
jaw dropped, and his eyes started as though 
a spirit from the dead had risen up from the 
decks in front of him. “ So,” said I, “ I see 
you remember me now.” 

“ For God’s sake, sir,” said he, “don’t ruin 
a poor devil who wants to make himself 
straight with the world. I was drunk when 
I kicked you, sir — the Lord knows I was ; 


The Rose of Paradise, i8g 

you wouldn’t hang me for that, sir, would 
you ?” 

“ That depends,” said I, sternly, “ upon 
whether you answer my questions without 
telling me a lie, as you did Captain Croker 
just now.” 

“ I wish I may die, sir,” said he, “ if what 
I tell you ain’t so. We all three of us left 
the Royal fames last night — she was the 
Cassaiidra, sir, but we christened her a new 
name, and hoisted the Black Roger over 
her. We got scared, sir, at the way things 
was going since Ned England left us and 
Tom Burke turned captain ; for he ain’t the 
man England was, and that’s the truth. All 
we ask now, sir, is to start fair and square 
again ; and so be if we don’t hang for this, 
I wish I may be struck dead, sir, if I, for 
one, go back to the bloody trade again. So 
all I want is to have a fair trial, and I begs 
of you, sir, that you won’t say the word that 
would hang us all up to the yard-arms as 
quick as a wink.” 


igo The Rose of Paradise, 

I am mightily afraid that I did not hear 
the last of the fellow’s discourse, for one 
part of the speech that he had dropped 
went through me like a shot. “ How is 
thati^” I cried. “Was not Captain Eng^ 
land with you when you deserted the ship.^” 

“Why, no, sir,” says he. “You see, sir, 
when we sailed away from Juanna, Tom 
Burke began to move heaven and earth 
against England, and back of him he had 
all of the worst of the crew aboard. First 
of all he began setting matters by the 
ears because England and Ward had been 
wheedled into giving you — asking your 
pardon, sir — a good sound vessel and all 
them bales of cloth stuff. I tell you plain, 
sir, Burke would never have let you had 
’em if he hadn’t wanted to use the matter 
against England. Well, sir, one night Ward 
fell overboard — nobody knowed how — and 
there was an end of him. After that they 
weren’t long in getting rid of England, I 
can tell you.” 


The Rose of Paradise. igi 

“Yes, yes,” I cried, impatiently, “but how 
did you get rid of him ?” 

“ Why, sir,” says he, “ they marooned him 
on a little island off the Mauritius, and six 
others with him ; they was — ” 

“Never mind them,” I cried; “but tell 
me, do you know what became of him ?” 

“ Why, yes, sir,” says he ; “ leastways we 
knew of him by hearsay; and this was how: 
About eight weeks ago we ran into a cove 
on the south shore of Mauritius to clean 
both ships, which had grown mightily foul. 
While we lay there on the careen a parcel 
of the crew who had been off hunting for 
game fetched back one of the self-same fel- 
lows we had marooned two months and 
more before. He told us that England and 
his shipmates had made a little craft out of 
bits of boards and barrel - staves, and had 
crossed over to the Mauritius in a spell of 
fair weather, though it was five leagues and 
more away.” 

To all this I listened with the greatest 


ig2 The Rose of Paradise. 

intentness. “ And is that all you know of 
him.f^” said I. “And can you not tell wheth- 
er he is yet on the island T 

The fellow looked at me for a moment 
out of the corners of his eyes without 
speaking. “ Look ’ee, sir,” said he, after a 
little while, “ what I wants to know is this : 
be ye seeking to harm Ned England or 
not ?” 

“ And do you trouble yourself about 
that T says I. “ Sure he can be no friend 
of yours, for did I not myself see him knock 
out a parcel of your teeth with an iron be- 
laying-pin T 

“ Yes, you did,” says he ; “ but I bear him 
no grudge for that.” 

“ Why,” said I, “ then neither do I bear 
him a grudge, and I give you my word of 
honor that I mean no harm to him.” 

The fellow looked at me earnestly for a 
while. “You wants to know where Ned 
England is, don’t you, sir said he.. 

I nodded my head. 


The Rose of Paradise, ipj 

“And I wants to be perserved from hang- 
ing, don’t I ?” 

I nodded my head again. 

“ Then look ’ee, sir,” says he, “ we’ll strike 
a bit of a bargain: if you’ll promise to say 
nothing to harm me and my shipmates. I’ll 
tell you where to find Ned England.” 

I considered the matter for a while. The 
fellow had told me a straightforward story, 
nor did I doubt that he intended to break 
away from his evil courses. I may truly say 
that I verily believe I would not have be- 
trayed the three poor wretches under any 
circumstances. “ Very well,” said I, “ I prom- 
ise to keep my part of the bargain.” 

“ Upon your honor said he. 

“ Upon my honor,” said I. 

“ Then, sir,” said he, “ you will find him 
at Port Louis, in the Mauritius,” and he 
turned upon his heel and walked away. 

13 


XV. 

I WAS filled with the greatest exultation 
by the knowledge which I had gained 
through the deserter from the pirates, for 
not only had I discovered the whereabouts 
of the one man in all of the world whom I 
felt well convinced had knowledge of the 
Rose of Paradise, but that man no longer 
had a crew of wicked and bloody wretches 
back of him, but stood, like me, upon his 
own footing. Therefore I determined that 
I would by some means or other either re- 
gain the treasure or perish in the attempt, 
for I would rather die than live a life of dis- 
honor such as now seemed to lie before me. 
However, I plainly perceived that if I would 
recover the treasure I would have to escape 
from the ship by some means or other whilst 
we were upon our passage and near the isle 


The Rose of Paradise. 


195 


of Mauritius, for if I lost time by going 
home and standing my examination, many 
things might occur which would lose the 
chance to me forever : England might quit 
the Mauritius, or gather together another 
crew of pirates upon his own account, for 
with such a treasure as the Rose of Para- 
dise he had it clearly in his power to do 
that and much more. 

At that time our English vessels were 
used to lay their course up and down the 
Mozambique Channel, and not along the 
eastern coast of Madagascar ; for the Mau- 
ritius and other islands which lie to the 
north-east of that land belong to the French 
or Dutch, as those in the Channel belong 
to us. Therefore it was necessary to my 
purpose that I should persuade Captain 
Croker to alter his course, so as to run 
down outside the island instead of through 
the Channel, for it was plain to see that even 
if I should be able to escape from the La* 
vinia to Juanna or to any of the coadjacent 


ig6 The Rose of Paradise, 

islands, I would be as far as ever from get- 
ting to Mauritius, which lieth many leagues 
away around the northern end of Madagas- 
car. 

So I determined to make a clean breast 
of it, and confide the whole plan to Captain 
Croker from beginning to end, only I would 
say nothing as to how I had gained my 
knowledge of England’s whereabouts, for I 
would not break the promise which I had 
given to the deserter, as told above. 

As no time was to be lost in following 
out the plans which I had determined upon, 
I requested that I might have speech with 
Captain Croker that very night. I told him 
everything concerning the affair from be- 
ginning to end, adding nothing and omit- 
ting nothing. Although so old and so well- 
tried a friend, he was cast into the utmost 
depths of wonder and amazement at my au- 
dacity in proposing that he should alter the 
course of his vessel, and at my boldness in 
daring to tell him my plans for escaping 


The Rose of Paradise. igj 

from the 'restraint under which I had been 
placed. He questioned me closely concern- 
ing many matters : as to what led me to 
think that England was the present pos- 
sessor of the jewel ; as to how I proposed to 
proceed after I had escaped to the land ; and 
as to how I had become informed of the 
pirate’s whereabouts, concerning which last 
particular I would give him no satisfaction. 

I knew not what he had in his mind, nor 
where all these questions tended, and by- 
and-by left the cabin, though in a sad state 
of uncertainty, not knowing how Captain 
Croker inclined, nor what might be his feel- 
ings in regard to me. 

Nor was my uncertainty lessened for sev- 
eral days, in which time I knew not what to 
think, but waited for some sign from him. 
One evening, however, the whole matter 
was resolved in a most simple, natural, and 
unexpected manner. 

At that time we were about seventy or 
eighty leagues north of the island of Mada- 


ig8 The Rose of Paradise. 

gascar. All the passengers being at sup- 
per, with Captain Croker at the head of the 
table, conversation began to run upon those 
pirates who had much infested these waters 
of late. 

“ Why,” says Captain Croker, “ the pres- 
ence of the rascals has so affected me that 
I have determined to alter the course of my 
vessel, and to run outside of Madagascar in- 
stead of through the Mozambique Channel, 
for it is well to have plenty of sea -room 
either to fight or to run from these wicked 
rogues. So now, if the wind holds good, 
seeing we are such friends with the French- 
men in these peaceful days, I purpose stop- 
ping at the Mauritius to take aboard fresh 
provisions.” 

Captain Croker did not look at me whilst 
he was saying all this, but studiously kept 
his eyes upon the plate before him, and 
presently rose and left the table. 

As for me, I sat with my heart beating 
within my breast as though it would burst 


The Rose of Paradise, igg 

asunder, for I saw that my fate was decided 
at last, and that one of the greatest happen- 
ings in all of my life was soon to come upon 
me. 

In two days, as Captain Croker had pre- 
dicted, we dropped anchor in the harbor off 
Port Louis at about three o’clock in the af- 
ternoon. I ate but little supper that night, 
my mind being so engrossed upon that 
which I had undertaken to do. 

We lay about half a mile from the shore, 
the water in the bay being very calm and 
still. I had procured four large calabash 
gourds, with which I had made shift to rig 
up a very decent float or life-preserver, for I 
had need of some such aid in my expedition, 
not being a very expert swimmer. 

In all this time I had said nothing to Cap- 
tain Croker, nor he to me ; but about seven 
o’clock, it being at that time pretty dark, he 
came to me where I stood by the rail of the 
poop-deck. 

“Jack,” said he, in a low voice, “are you 


200 The Rose of Paradise. 

still in the mind for carrying this thing 
through ?” 

“Yes, I am,” I said. 

“ To-night ?” says he. 

“ To-night,” says I. 

“ Then God bless you !” said he, and he 
gave my hand a hearty grip. Then he 
turned upon his heel and went below, and 
I knew that my time for acting had arrived. 

I had not much fear of sharks, for I had 
seen enough of those cowardly creatures to 
know that they rarely or never attack a 
swimmer or a moving man, but only a body 
floating upon the water as though dead ; 
moreover, at night they are asleep or in deep 
water, for they are not often seen upon the 
surface after the darkness has fairly fallen. 

After the captain left me I looked around 
and saw that no one else was nigh upon, the 
deck. I took my calabash gourds and en- 
tered the boat that hung from the davits 
astern. Taking a hint from Captain Leach, 
I had secured a coil of line by which I 


The Rose of Paradise. 201 

might lower myself into the water, for if I 
had dropped with a splash I would have 
been pretty sure to have been discovered. 
Having removed my shoes and stockings, 
which I wrapped in a piece of tarpaulin, 
together with my tinder-box and flint and 
steel, all of which I secured upon my head, 
and having slipped the cords which bound 
the calabashes under my arms, I slid down 
the line into the water astern. 

Having committed my life into the keep- 
ing of Providence, I struck out boldly for the 
shore, being aided by a current which set 
towards it, and directing my course by the 
lights which glimmered faintly in the dis- 
tance. So I reached the beach, and built a 
fire, whereby I dried my clothes. Then, hav- 
ing put on my shoes and stockings, which 
had been kept pretty dry by the tarpaulin, 
I walked up the beach in the direction of 
the scattered row of houses which, the moon 
having now risen, stood out very plain at 
about a quarter of a mile distant. 


202 


The Rose of Paradise. 

I found the town to consist of a great 
straggling collection of low one-story build- 
ings, mostly made of woven palm-branches, 
smeared over with mud which had dried in 
the sun. At this time it could not have 
been much less than nine o’clock, and all 
was dark and silent. I went aimlessly here 
and there, not knowing whither to direct 
my steps, until at last I caught sight of a 
little twinkle of light, which I perceived 
came through a crack of an ill-hung shutter. 
I went around to the front of the hut, which 
seemed larger and better made than others 
I had seen. Above the door hung an ill- 
made sign, and the moon shining full upon 
it, I could plainly see a rude picture of a 
heart with a crown above it, and under- 
neath, written in great sprawling letters, — 

‘‘Le Cceur DU Roy.” 

— From this I knew that it was an ordi- 
nary, at which I was greatly rejoiced, and 
also what suited me very well was to find 


The Rose of Paradise, 


203 


that it was French, for I had no mind to 
fall in with English people just then, and 
I knew enough of French to feel pretty 
easy with the lingo. So into the place I 
stepped, as bold as brass, and ordered a 
glass of grog and something to eat. 

There were perhaps half a score of rough, 
ill-looking fellows gathered' around a dirty 
table playing at cards by the light from a 
flame of a bit of rope’s-end stuck in a cala- 
bash of grease. They laid down their cards 
when I came in, and stared at me in a very 
forbidding fashion. However, I paid no at- 
tention to them, but sat down at a table at 
some little distance, and by-and-by the land- 
lord, a little pot-bellied, red-faced French- 
man, brought me a glass of hot rum and a 
dish of greasy stew seasoned with garlic. 
He would have entered into talk with me, 
but I soon gave him to understand that I 
had no appetite for conversation just at this 
time; so after having made a bargain for 
lodgings during the night, he withdrew to 


20^ The Rose of Par aised, 

a bench in the farther corner of the room, 
where I presently saw him fall asleep. 

If I had hoped to escape from meeting 
my own countrymen, I soon discovered that 
I was to be sadly disappointed, for before I 
had been in the place a quarter of an hour 
I found that at least half the fellows around 
the table were Englishmen. They were the 
most villanous, evil-looking set of men that 
I had beheld in a long time, and I could not 
but feel uneasy, for I had with me gold and 
silver money to the value of between ten 
and eleven guineas, and by their muttering 
together and looking in my direction now 
and then I knew that they were talking con- 
cerning me. 

Presently one of the fellows got up from 
the table and came over to the place where 
I sat. 

“ Look ’ee, messmate,” said he, seating 
himself upon the corner of the table beside 
me ; “ be ye English, French, Dutch, Portu- 
guese, or what 


The Rose of Paradise. 20^ 

At first I was of a mind to deny being an 
Englishman, but on second thoughts I per- 
ceived that it would be useless to do so, 
there being the scum of so many peoples at 
that place that I could not hope to escape 
exposure. 

“ Why, shipmate,” said I, “ I’m an English- 
man.” 

“ Where do ye hail from ?” said he. 

“ Over yonder,” said I, pointing in the di- 
rection of the Lavinia. 

“ Did ye come aboard of the cr^ft that 
ran into the harbor to-day ?” 

I nodded my head. 

“ Did ye come ashore without leave ?” 

I nodded my head again. 

The others had all laid down their cards 
and were looking at us by this time, and I 
knew not what would have been the upshot 
of the matter had not the door just then 
been flung open and a great rough fellow 
come stumping into the place. 

“ Well,” he bawled, in a loud, hoarse voice, 


2o6 


The Rose of Paradise. 


“poor Ned is on his way to h — 1 hot-foot 
to-night. I just came by his stew-hole over 
yonder. Pah !” — here the fellow spat upon 
the floor — “ he was screeching and howling 
and yelling as though the d — 1 was basting 
him already.” 

“ Who’s with him now says one of the 
fellows at the table. 

“ Who’s with him says the other, in a 
mightily contemptuous tone. “ Why, d’ye 

think that anybody would be such a 

fool as to stay with him now, with 

nothing to be got for it but the black tongue 
and a cursing V 

“ But what I say is this,” said an ill-look- 
ing one-eyed fellow : “ he’s not the man to 
serve his trade for all these here years and 
nothing to show for it. It’s all very well to 
say that Jack Mackra shot the hoops off his 
luck ; but you mark my words, he’s got a 
cable out to windward somewhere, and he 
ain’t goin’ to run on the lee shore with an 
empty hold.” 


20y 


The Rose of Paradise, 

I was so amazed to hear my own name 
spoken that I knew not at first whether to 
believe that which mine ears had heard or 
whether they had heard aright. Then it 
was as though a sudden light flashed upon 
me. I needed not the next speech to tell 
me everything. 

“Well,” says one of the fellows, “even if 
so be as Ned England is going to smell 
brimstone before this time to-morrow, I for 
one see no reason to lose our game. Come 
along, Blake,” he sang out to the fellow who 
had been speaking to me, and who rejoined 
the others upon being bidden. 

I was in a great ferment of spirits at all 
this, for I perceived very clearly that Eng- 
land was mightily sick, and perhaps dying, 
with that dangerous fever known as the 
“ black tongue,” from which it is a rare thing 
for a man to recover with his life. 

I observed that the fellow who had lately 
come into the ordinary did not join in the 
game along with the rest, but sat looking 


2o8 The Rose of Paradise, 

on. By-and-by I contrived to catch his eye 
as he glanced in my direction, whereupon I 
beckoned to him, and he came over to the 
table where I sat. Only a few words passed 
between us, and those in a very low tone. 

“ Is Ned England all alone said I. 

“ Yes,” said he. 

“ Will you show me where he is T said I. 

He shot a quick look at me from under 
his brows. “ How much will you give V 

“ A guinea ” said I. 

“ ril do it.” 

“ When r 

“ To-morrow morning.” 

That was all that passed, and then he 
moved away and joined the others at the 
table. 

The next morning I purchased a good 
large pistol from mine host, for I saw that 
with such companions as I was like to fall 
in with I would need some sort of weapon 
to protect myself. Having loaded it with a 
brace of slugs, I thrust it in my belt, and 


2og 


The Rose of Paradise. 

then stepped out of the door, where I found 
my acquaintance of the night before wait- 
ing for me. 

“ Are you ready T' said I. 

“Yes,” said he, “I am; but I must see 
the color of your money before I go a single 
step.” 

“ It is yellow,” said I, and held the guinea 
out in the palm of my hand. 

When he saw it his eyes shone like coals 
and his fingers began to twitch. “ Hand it 
over,” says he, “ and I’ll take ye straight.” 

“ No, no,” said I ; “ avast there, shipmate. 
You get your money when I see Captain 
Edward England, and not before.” 

“ So be it,” says he. “ Lay your course 
straight ahead yonder, and I’ll follow after 
and tell you how to go.” 

I looked coolly into the fellow’s face, and 
could not help grinning. “ Why,” says I, 
“ to tell the truth, shipmate ” (here I drew 
my pistol out of my belt and cocked it), “ I 
have no appetite for a knife betwixt the ribs; 

14 


210 The Rose of Paradise, 

so you’ll just march ahead, and if you try 
any of your tricks I’ll put a brace of bullets 
through your head as sure as you’re alive.” 

The fellow looked at me for a while in a 
puzzled sort of way; then he grinned, and 
swinging on his heel strode away, I follow- 
ing close behind him with the pistol ready 
cocked in my hand. We went onward in 
this way for about half a mile, until we came 
to a little hut that stood by itself beyond 
the rest of the town. My guide stopped 
short about fifty paces away from the hut. 
“There’s where you’ll find Ned England,” 
said he, “and I’ll go no farther for ten 
guineas, for I’ve no notion of catching the 
black tongue ; and if you’ll hearken to a 
bit of advice, shipmate, you’ll give it a wide 
berth yourself.” 

I felt assured the fellow was telling me 
the truth, so I paid him his guinea, and 
then turned away and left him standing 
where he was, and as I stopped in front 
of the hut and lool^ back I saw that the 


The Rose of Paradise, 21 1 

man was yet standing in the very same spot, 
staring after me. 

I may confess that I myself was some- 
what overcome with fear of the dreadful dis- 
ease, wherefore I stood for a moment before 
I knocked upon the door. But I presently 
rallied myself, calling to mind that this was 
the only means of recovering the Rose of 
Paradise, even if it was at the risk of my 
own life ; therefore I knocked loudly on the 
door with the butt of my pistol. 

My guide, who stood still in the same 
place, called out to me that there was no 
one to hear my knocking ; so I pushed open 
the door and entered the hut. 

For a while I saw nothing, for it was very 
dark within. But I heard a hoarse and 
chattering voice, scarce above a whisper, cry- 
ing continually, “ Hard a-lee ! — hard a-lee ! — 
hard a-lee !” 

Presently mine eyes became accustomed 
to the gloom, and I might see the things 
around more clearly. There, in the corner 


212 The Rose of Paradise, 

of the room, lying upon a mat of filthy rags, 
his ‘body almost a skeleton, his bloodshot 
eyes glaring out from under his matted hair, 
I beheld the famous pirate, Captain Edward 
England. 


THERE, IN THE CORNER, I BEHELD THE FAMOUS PIRATE, CAPTAIN EDWARD ENGLAND. 






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XVI. 


I MAY truly say that when I saw the dole- 
ful state of the poor wretch, and how he lay 
there without so much as a single soul to 
moisten his lips or to give him a draught of 
cold water, I forgot mine own troubles for 
the time being, and thought only of his pit- 
iable condition. 

I sometimes misdoubt whether I should 
have felt grieved for such a wicked and 
bloody man, who had for years done noth- 
ing but commit the most dreadful crimes, 
such as murther and piracy and the like, 
yet seeing him thus prostrated, lying help- 
less, and deserted by all his kind, I could 
not help my bowels being stirred by com- 
passion ; wherefore I thought neither of the 
danger from his fever, nor of the many 
grievous injuries which he had done, both 


214 The Rose of Paradise, 

to myself and to others, but only of reliev- 
ing his present distresses. 

My first consideration was to make him 
more clean, wherefore I fetched some water 
from a rivulet which I had noticed flow nigh 
to that place, and washed his hands and face, 
and so much of his body as seemed to me 
fitting. Then I gathered some fresh palm- 
leaves, and covered them over with a bit of 
sail which I found rolled up in the back 
part of the hut, and having thus made 
thereof a clean and comfortable bed, I 
carried the poor wretch thither and laid 
him upon it. 

As I had eaten nothing that morning, I 
went back into the town and bought a lump 
of meat and some fresh fruit, and then back 
again to the hut. I noticed here and there 
some that stood and looked after me, though 
they said nothing to me, nor molested me 
in any manner. I afterwards found that my 
guide had so spread the news of my going 
to England’s hut that many knew it, and 


The Rose of Paradise, 21^ 

accredited me with being a friend of the 
pirate’s, and even a partaker in his wicked 
and nefarious deeds. Whether it was from 
this or from fear of contagion of the fever I 
know not, but certain it is I was never once 
molested so long as I was upon that island. 

When I returned to the hut it seemed to 
me that the sick man had less fever than 
when I left him, which perhaps happened 
from the refreshment of the washing that I 
had given him, though it might have been 
that the crisis of his distemper had arrived, 
and that his complaint had now lessened in 
its intensity. 

Some time after mid-day I was sitting be- 
side the sick man, fanning both him and 
myself, for though the nights were cool at 
this season of the year, the middle of the 
day was both exceeding hot and sultry. He 
had ceased in his incessant and continuous 
muttering and talking, and was now lying 
quite silent, though breathing short and 
quick with the fever. 


2t6 


The Rose of Paradise. 


Suddenly he spoke. “ Who are you P 
said he, in a quick, sharp voice. 

I thought at first he was still rambling in 
his mind, but when I looked at him I saw 
that his bloodshot eyes were fixed upon me. 
I- placed my hand upon his brow, and 
though still very hot, I fancied that the 
skin was not so dry nor so hard as it had 
been. 

“ Who are you said he again in the 
same tone. 

“ There,” said I, “lie still and rest. You 
have been mightily sick.” 

“ Is it Jack Mackra?” said he. 

“ Yes,” said I. 

“ And what do you do here said he. 

“ I am come to care for you just now,” 
said I ; “ but now rest quietly, for I will not 
answer one single question more, and that 
I promise you.” 

He did not seek to speak again, but lay 
quite still, as though meditating; and pres- 
ently, as I sat fanning him, I saw him close 


2iy 


The Rose of Paradise, 

his eyes, and after a while, by his deep and 
regular breathing, knew that he was asleep, 
and that his fever had turned. 

As I remember all the circumstances con- 
cerning these things, I think that up to this 
time I had given little if any thought con- 
cerning the treasure of which I had been in 
quest ; but now, seeing the sick man fairly 
asleep, and in what seemed to me a fair 
way to mend, my mind went instantly back 
to it again, for I felt well assured that I 
should find it or some signs of it about the 
place where I then was. 

It is not needful to recount all the man- 
ner in which I prosecuted my search for the 
gem, for not only did I examine every scrap 
of paper about the place in hopes of finding 
some matter concerning it, but I sounded 
the walls, and pierced wellnigh every inch 
of the dirt floor with a sharpened stick of 
wood, but found not one single sign of it 
anywhere. I even searched in the pockets 
of the breeches which the sick man wore, 


2i8 The Rose of Paradise. 

and of his coat and waistcoat, which hung 
against the wall, but discovered nothing to 
reward my search — all that I found there be- 
ing a book of needles and thread, a tailor’s 
thimble, a great piece of tobacco, such as 
seafaring men always carry with them, a ball 
of yarn about half the bigness of an orange, 
and a hasp-knife. 

I cannot tell the bitter disappointment 
that took possession of me when my search 
proved to be of so little avail ; for I had felt 
so sure of finding the jewel or some traces 
of it, and had felt so sure of being able to 
secure it again, that I could not bear to 
give up my search, but continued it after 
every hope had expired. 

When I was at last compelled to ac- 
knowledge to myself that I had failed, I fell 
into a most unreasonable rage at the poor, 
helpless, fever-stricken wretch, though I had 
but just now been doing all that lay in my 
power to aid him and to help him in his 
trouble and his sickness. “ Why should I 


The Rose of Paradise, 2ig 

not leave him to rot where he is ?” I cried, 
in my anger; “why should I continue to 
succor one who has done so much to injure 
me, and to rob me of all usefulness and"^ 
honor in this world ?” I ran out of the 
cabin, and up and down, as one distracted, 
hardly knowing whither I went. But . by- 
and-by it was shown me what was right 
with more clearness, and that I should not 
desert the poor and helpless wretch in his 
hour of need : wherefore I went back to the 
hut and fell to work making a broth for him 
against he should awake, for I saw that the 
fever was broken, and that he was like to 
get well. 

I did not give over my search for the 
stone in one day, nor two, nor three, but 
continued it whenever the opportunity of- 
fered and the pirate was asleep, but with as 
little success as at first, though I hunted 
everywhere. As for Captain England him- 
self, he began to mend from the very day 
upon which I came, for he awoke from his 


220 The Rose of Paradise, 

first sleep with his fever nigh gone, and all 
the madness cleared away from his head ; 
but he never once, for a long while, spoke 
of the strangeness of my caring for him in 
his sickness, nor how I came to be there, 
nor of my reasons for coming. Neverthe- 
less, from where he lay he followed me with 
his eyes in all my motions whenever I w^as 
moving about the hut. 

One day, however, after I had been there 
a little over a week, against which time he 
was able to lie in a rude hammock, which I 
had slung up in front of the door, he asked 
me of a sudden if any of his cronies had 
lent a hand at nursing him when he was 
sick, and I told him no. 

“ And how came you to undertake it 
says he. 

“ Why,” said I, “ I was here on business, 
and found you lying nigh dead in this 
place.” 

He looked at me for a little while in a 
mightily strange way, and then suddenly 


The Rose of Paradise. 221 

burst into a great loud laugh. After that 
he lay still for a while, watching me, but 
presently he spoke again. 

“And did you find it.^^” says he. 

“Find what.f^” I asked, after a bit, for I 
was struck all aback by the question, and 
could not at first find one word to say. But 
he only burst out laughing again. “ Why,” 
says he, “ you psalm-singing, Bible-reading, 
straitlaced Puritan skippers are as keen as 
a sail-needle ; you’ll come prying about in 
a man’s house looking for what you would 
like to find, and all under pretence of doing 
an act of humanity, but after all you find 
an honest devil of a pirate is a match for 
you.” 

I made no answer to this, but my heart 
sank within me ; for I perceived, what I 
might have known before, that he had ob- 
served the object of my coming thither. 

He soon became strong enough to move 
about the place a little, and from that time 
I noticed a great change in him, and that 


222 


The Rose of Paradise, 

he seemed to regard me in a very evil way. 
One evening when I came into the hut, af- 
ter an absence in the town, I saw that he 
had taken down one of his pistols from the 
wall, and was loading it and picking the 
flint. He kept that pistol by him for a 
couple of days, and was forever fingering it, 
cocking it, and then lowering the hammer 
again. 

I do not know why he did not shoot me 
through the brains at this time ; for I verily 
believe that he had it upon his mind to do 
so, and that more than once. And now, in 
looking back upon the business, it appears 
to me to be little less than a miracle that I 
came forth from this adventure with my life. 
Yet had I certainly known that death was 
waiting upon me, I doubt that I should 
have left that place ; for in truth, now that I 
had escaped from the Lavinia, as above nar- 
rated, I had nowhere else to go, nor could I 
ever show my face in England or amongst 
my own people again. 


The Rose of Paradise, 22^ 

Thus matters stood until one morning 
the whole business came to an end so sud- 
denly and so unexpectedly that for a long 
while I felt as though all might be a dream, 
from which I should soon awake. 

We were sitting together silently, he in a 
very moody and bitter humor. He had his 
pistol lying across his knees, as he used to 
do at that time. 

Suddenly he turned to me as though in a 
fit of rage. “ Why do you stay about this 
accursed fever hole.f^” cried he; “what do 
you want here, with your saintly face and 
your godly airs V 

“ I stay here,” said I, bitterly, “ because I 
have nowhere else to go.” 

“And what do you want T said he. 

“ That you know,” said I, “ as well as I 
myself.” 

“And do you think,” said he, “that I will 
give it to you V 

“ No,” said I, “ that I do not.” 

“Look ’ee, Jack Mackra,” said he, very 


224 The Rose of Paradise. 

slowly, “you are the only man hereabouts 
who knows anything of that red pebble ” 
(here he raised his pistol and aimed it di- 
rectly at my bosom); “why shouldn’t I shoot 
you down like a dog, and be done with you 
forever ? I’ve shot many a better man than 
you for less than this.” 

I felt every nerve thrill as I beheld the 
pistol set against my breast, and his cruel, 
wicked eyes behind the barrel ; but I steeled 
myself to stand steadily and to face it. 

“You may shoot if you choose, Edward 
England,” said I, “ for I have nothing more 
to live for. I have lost my honor and all 
except my life through you, and you might 
as well take that as the rest.” 

He withdrew the pistol, and sat regard- 
ing me for a while with a most baleful look, 
and for a time I do believe that my life 
hung in the balance with the weight of a 
feather to move it either way. Suddenly 
he thrust his hand into his bosom and drew 
forth the ball of yarn which I had observed 


The Rose of Paradise, 22^ 

amongst other things in his pocket. He 
flung it at me with all his might, with a 
great cry as though of rage and of anguish. 
“Take it,” he roared, “and may the devil 
go with you ! And now away from here, 
and be quick about it, or I will put a bullet 
through your head even yet.” 

I knew as quick as lightning what it was 
that was wrapped in the ball of yarn, and 
leaping forward I snatched it up and ran as 
fast as I was able away from that place. I 
heard another roar, and at the same time 
the shot of a pistol and the whiz of a bullet, 
and my hat went spinning off before me as 
though twitched from off my head. I did 
not tarry to pick it up, but ran on without 
stopping : but even yet, to this day, I can- 
not tell whether Edward England missed 
me through purpose or through the trem- 
bling of weakness ; for he was a dead-shot, 
and I myself once saw him snap the stem 
of a wineglass with a pistol bullet at an or- 
dinary in Jamaica. 

15 


226 The Rose of Paradise. 

As for me, the whole thing had happened 
so quickly and so unexpectedly that I had 
no time either for joy or exultation, but con- 
tinued to run on bareheaded as though be- 
reft of my wits ; for I knew I held in my 
hand not only the great ruby, but also my 
honor and all that was dear to me in my 
life. 

But although England had so freely given 
me the stone, I knew that I must remain in 
that place no longer. I still had between 
five and six guineas left of the money 
which I had brought ashore with me when 
I left the Lavinia. With this I hired a 
French fisherman to transport me to Mad- 
agascar, where I hoped to be able to work 
my passage either to Europe or back to the 
East Indies. 

As fortune would have it, we fell in with 
an English bark, the Kensington., bound for 
Calcut, off the north coast of that land, and 
I secured a berth aboard of her, shipping as 
an ordinary seaman ; for I had no mind to 


The Rose of Paradise, 22y 

tell my name, and so be forced to disclose 
the secret of the great treasure which I had 
with me. After arriving at Calcut I was 
fortunate enough to be able to find a vessel 
ready to sail for Bombay, whereon I secured 
a berth, and so arrived safe at that place 
about the middle of March. 

I had unrolled the ball of yarn and looked 
at the stone so soon as I had been able to 
do so after getting it into my possession. 
Then, finding that it was safe and unhurt, 
as I had seen it last, I had rolled it up again, 
for I could perceive that there was no better 
hiding-place for it than the one the cunning 
pirate had provided. So for all this last 
voyage I had carried a fortune of three 
hundred and fifty thousand pounds in my 
pocket, wrapped up in a ball of yarn. 

It was early in the morning when we ar- 
rived at Bombay, and so soon as I was able 
I disclosed my name and condition to the 
captain under whom I had sailed, and con- 


228 


The Rose of Paradise, 


trived to impress him with the importance 
of my commission, without disclosing any- 
thing to him in regard to the stone. He 
was very complacent to me, and would have 
had me dress myself in a more fitting man- 
ner, and in some of his own clothes, for I 
was clad no better than the other seamen 
with whom I had consociated for all this 
time ; but I was too impatient to delay my 
going ashore for one moment longer than 
was needful, so he kindly sent me off with- 
out any further stay. 

I went straight to the Residency, and 
though the attendants would have stayed 
me, I so insisted, both with words and with 
force, that they were constrained to show 
me directly into the presence of the Gov- 
ernor. 

I found him seated with Mistress Pamela 
at breakfast, beneath the shade of a wide 
veranda overlooking a beautiful and luxuri- 
ant garden. The Governor arose as I came 
forward, looking very much surprised at my 


22g 


The Rose of Paradise. 

boldness in so forcing my presence upon 
his privacy. As for Mistress Pamela, I be- 
held her eyes grow wide and her face as 
white as marble, and thereby knew that she 
had recognized me upon the instant. 

I came direct to the table, and drawing 
forth the jewel, still wrapped in the yarn 
(for my agitation had been so great that I 
had not thought to unroll the covering from 
the stone), I laid it upon the table, with my 
hands trembling as though with an ague. 

“ What does all this mean T cried the 
Governor. “ Who are you, and what do 
you want V' For I was mightily changed 
in my appearance by the rough life through 
which I had passed, and he did not recog- 
nize me. 

But I only pointed to the ball of yarn. 
“ Open it,” I cried ; “ for God’s sake, open 
it !” 

I saw a sudden light come into Mistress 
Pamela’s eyes. She clasped her hands, and 
repeated after me, “ Open it, open it !” 


2^0 The Rose of Paradise, 

The Governor himself seemed to be im- 
pressed by our emotion ; for, instead of trou- 
bling himself to unwind the yarn, he snatch- 
ed up a bread -knife and cut through the 
strands, so that they fell apart, and the jewel 
rolled out upon the white linen table-cover. 

The Governor gazed upon it as though 
thunderstruck. Presently he slowly raised 
his eyes and looked at me. “ What is this ?” 
said he. 

In the mean time I had somewhat recov- 
ered from my excessive emotion. “ Sir,” 
said I, “ it is the Rose of Paradise.” 

“And you ?” 

“ I am Captain John Mackra.” 

The Governor grasped my hand, and 
shook it most warmly. “ Sir,” said he, “ Cap- 
tain Mackra, I am vastly delighted to find 
you such a man as my niece has always 
maintained you to be. The little rebel has 
led me a most disturbed and disquieted life 
ever since I was constrained to order you 
back to England under restraint. I now 


The Rose of Paradise. 2ji 

leave you a captive in her hands, trusting 
to her to give you a famous dish of tea, 
whilst I go and consign this great treasure 
to some place of safe-keeping. I shall soon 
return, for I am most impatient to hear your 
narrative of those events which led to the 
recovery of this stone.” 

So saying, he turned and left us, bearing 
the Rose of Paradise with him, and I sat 
down to a dish of tea with Mistress Pamela. 

When the Governor returned he had first 
to listen to other matters than those con- 
cerning the Rose of Paradise ; for, with his 
consent, Pamela Boon had promised to be 
my wife. 


THE END. 



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